As has been the custom in recent months, a monthly budget briefing for members of the UNC system's Board of Governors was, shall we say, a less-than gleeful affair.

The board got its latest rundown of money cut from its current state appropriation — $203 million, if you count Gov. Beverly Perdue's new half-percent pay cut for state workers — as well as what the next year might look light.

Here are a few highlights. Or, if you prefer, lowlights.

The $167 million that UNC campuses have cut from the current year's operating budgets includes $32 million at UNC Chapel Hill, $31 million at N.C. State and $5.4 million at N.C. Central University.

Initiatives not receiving funding this year include: academic and student support; library resources; start-up money for new research labs, and equipment upgrades.

Also, there is no money for repairs and renovations this year. That's a major issue for university system leaders who don't want to fall back into the same sorry situation they found themselves in towards the end of the 1990s — decades of deferred maintenance — that made the $2.1 billion bond program necessary.

"We're deferring a lot of problems here by not having the resources to expend on them," said Rob Nelson, the UNC system's vice president for finance.

Roof repairs and renovations are apparently in high demand now, with such projects nixed on 12 of 16 campuses including UNC-CH and NCCU. Fire safety improvements like sprinkler system installation and structural facility repairs are also being delayed.

"This is a big deal," said Erskine Bowles, the UNC system president. "We have all these great buildings and we're not maintaining them. We'll pay for it down the road."

UNC system President Erskine Bowles' plan to step down at age 65 is no surprise to those who hired him.

Bowles, whose plan was reported Sunday in this story and this related interview transcript, told his bosses with the UNC system's governing board from the start that he would likely follow the tradition set by past university leaders and leave at that age.

"He has said from the very beginning that is what he intended to do," said Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC system's Board of Governors. "He has been very open to everybody about it. It's not a surprise to us."

Following that timeline, Bowles, 63, would be gone in two years. Bowles began work Jan. 1, 2006,
succeeding Molly Broad, a career higher education administrator who
headed the system for eight years.

In a long interview last week with a News & Observer reporter, Bowles spoke of his role as a "change agent" for the university, a demanding leader who presses people hard.

"I’m a pusher. I’m a driver," he said. "And you can only take so much of that. Really, they’ll need a kinder, softer person. I would imagine I’ll be there another year and a half or so."

Bowles came to UNC with no background in higher education. A former White House Chief of Staff under President Clinton, Bowles has decades of experience in investment banking and brought a businessman's eye to the running of the state's universities.

And though he had no experience with tuition rates, public university budgets or academic planning, he has impressed staffers with is ability to learn on the go.

"The man has incredible intellectual capacity," said Rob Nelson, the UNC system's vice president for finance. "I've worked for a lot of people in 30 years in state government. I"ve never seen anyone devour numbers the way he does."

Gage, chairwoman of the UNC governing board, said she expects Bowles will face some opposition as his 65th birthday approaches.

"He drives himself hard, and everyone he works with, he drives hard. But contrary to what he says, I don't think he will have worn out his welcome," Gage said. "We would all be thrilled if he changed his mind, and I think people will try to convince him to do that."

In today’s News & Observer, we have a long story about Erskine Bowles and how busy he is.

Okay, that’s simplifying things a bit.

Bowles, 63, is president of the UNC system, a far-flung empire stretching from North Carolina’s mountains to the coast. He oversees 17 campuses, a $2 billion budget and the educations of more than 215,000 students.

But in his spare time, this former White House Chief of Staff is one of 12 corporate titans charged with overseeing General Motors. He’s also one of 12 members of the board of directors in charge of Morgan Stanley, the financial services giant.
And he’s one of nine members of the board charged with oversight of Cousins Properties, a real estate investment firm.

That’s an automotive company, a bank and a real estate firm — three of the industries primarily involved in the nation’s ongoing economic struggles.

So that got us to wondering about how Bowles manages all these responsibilities, and whether his corporate involvements infringe upon the time he spends managing the UNC system.

As part of our reporting,  Jonathan B. Cox sat down with Bowles and talked at length about these issues.  Bowles related some interesting tidbits, including the possibility that, a year or two from now, UNC leaders may be looking for his successor.

Here are excerpts from that interview.

UNC system President Erskine Bowles has offered to step down from the General Motors board of directors, according to a Bloomberg report.

Bowles' resignation is prompted by the Obama administration's request that GM CEO Rick Wagoner step down along with a majority of board members.

Bowles, the former White House chief of staff under President Clinton, joined the GM board in 2005. 

He has held the UNC presidency since 2006.

UNC system President Erskine Bowles is hoping to keep the university system's budget cut for next year to top out at 5 percent.

Likely? Perhaps not.

Read on.

This week, the UNC system’s governing board will consider adopting a “value statement” making clear some of the public university system’s strategies as it navigates these lousy economic times.

While some of it is the usual rhetoric: “Protect UNC’s commitment to teaching, research and public service” - there are a couple components that send a firm message to the system’s 17 campuses.

For one, it directs campuses to consider across-the-board cuts only as a last resort. Cutting every division of a university equally is easier, in a sense, but administrators say doing so makes little sense because not every division, department, class and function has equal value.

The catch? It requires campus leaders to look very critically and make unpopular decisions. Nobody wants to be the one to tell Professor X, who has taught at Big State University for 30 years and is wildly popular on campus, that his Center for the Study of Vanilla Ice Cream is no longer relevant.

“Consider strategic vertical cuts that would reduce or eliminate nonproductive and/or nonessential programs and centers that no longer contribute in as meaningful a way to the campus’ modern mission as they once did,” the statement reads in part.

The next line in the statement is also interesting because it speaks to the desire of UNC system officials to have campuses act more as a cohesive unit rather than as 17 separate parts.

“Where feasible and appropriate, face-to-face courses that are eliminated should be made available through high-quality on-line instruction via UNC online. campuses are encouraged to continue their commitment to be more outward-facing, collaborative and regionally engaged.”

Okay, so here’s what that line means, though it doesn’t specifically say it. If a UNC system campus has a mediocre academic program that costs a lot of money, it should be scrapped, even if it means sending students to a similar, Internet-based course offered by another university.

Yes, the UNC system wants its campuses to send its customers away if and when it makes academic and financial sense.

“You’re sending it to the UNC system,” Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC system’s Board of Governors, told me this week. “It does involve a deeper degree of education from the people who guide students. And it is cross-promotion. But we are a system.”

In recent years, the UNC system has used online courses more and more heavily in dealing with an increasing demand for its services.

And campuses see the value. In 2008, enrollment in distance education courses jumped 20 percent over the previous year, and campuses continue to ratchet up their online services.

A committee of the UNC system’s board will discuss the value statement Thursday.

In a recent blog post, I wrote about UNC President Erskine Bowles' desire to keep budget cuts to the public university system lower than it appears the state is headed.

Well, here are some specifics, via our local public universities here in the Triangle, on how the cuts might affect campus services. The information comes from a 24-page report to the UNC system's Board of Governors that you can read in its entirety by clicking the link below this post.

Highlights:

At N.C. Central University, a seven percent cut to next year's budget amounts to a loss of $6.6 million and would bring about, among other things:

• The elimination of 54 positions, 22 of which are faculty.

•  Elimination of 340 class sections

• Reduction of 2.5 police department positions, 6 housekeeping positions and 2 groundskeepers.

At N.C. State, a seven percent cut is about $36 million. Specific cuts would include:

• 404 positions eliminated including about 70 faculty slots.

• 180 class sections eliminated, most in general education courses affecting all students.

• Course reductions in biological sciences, College of Education and engineering labs.

• Library will close for third shift, cancel 1,200 journals and buy 4,200 fewer books annually.

• Study abroad and community engagement programs will be cut by one quarter.

• Emerging programs in textiles, design, management, humanities and social sciences will be eliminated.

• The Agricultural Research Service would lose 78 positions, all of which are filled.

At UNC Chapel Hill, a seven percent cut amounts to a loss of $40 million. Among the cuts:

• 267 positions eliminated, 107 of which are faculty slots. 62 faculty slots are in health affairs.

• Loss of allied health faculty would lead to an increase in the shortage of physical therapists, radiology assistants and audiologists.

• 372 fewer course sections could be offered.

 The UNC system's Board of Governors will discuss all of this next week.

Documents:

Across North Carolina, state agencies are grappling with budget cuts, and Gov. Beverly Perdue has asked them to prepare for reductions of up to nine percent in next year's spending plans.

UNC system President Erskine Bowles wants to go in another direction. While the university system has been working on budget-cut scenarios of up to seven percent, Bowles now is asking state leaders to limit the university's damage to five percent.

And he doesn't want those cuts to be permanent, either. When the economy sours, public agencies generally start with one-time cuts, which basically just reduce spending for a single budget year. Permanent cuts require the elimination of programs and often bring about layoffs.

In a letter to members of the UNC system's governing board, Bowles writes this week than the university simply cannot withstand cuts greater than the five percent level, and they should only apply as long as the economic downturn does.

"I am sure that no members of the legislature would cut education to the extent they may have to if they did not face a severe economic crisis," Bowles writes. "Again, that is why I have suggested making the duration of the cuts match the length of the crisis - so that when the crisis ends, we will have the economic resources to spring forward and give our students the education they need to compete with the world's best and brightest, wherever they may be."

The UNC system has absorbed $175 million in cuts this year, Bowles writes. A 7 percent cut next year would prompt the elimination of 1,600 jobs across the 17-campus university system, 1,000 of which are currently filled. Translation: 1,000 layoffs.

 The UNC system's board meets next week. You can click on the attachment below to read Bowles' entire, four-page letter. 

Documents:

North Carolina A & T Chancellor Stanley Battle caught his campus by surprise this week, announcing his resignation for personal reasons.

He's done there June 30.

Battle has been on the job at the Greensboro campus since July 2007.

Click here for more.

Winston-Salem State's desire to move to Division I athletics was dealt a blow recently.

The UNC system's governing board declines to approve a massive increase to the athletics fee the university wanted to charge its students - a fee that campus leaders said was critical to close a gap in the athletics budget.

WSSU wanted a 31 percent increase in the athletic fee, from $579 to $760 a year for each full-time student.

That was too much for UNC system leaders to stomach.

The details.