In a letter to faculty, staff and students, UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp this week noted that cuts to the new year's operating budget are expected to total 10 percent.

Those won't be across-the-board cuts at UNC-CH or, most likely, at other public universities as well. UNC system officials generally frown at that practice, preferring instead to be analytical and critical in their budget-cutting and find places that can best take the hit or are under-performing.

In Thorp's memo, which you can read by clicking the attached document, he writes that the budget picture in Raleigh "remains bleak."

"Revenue projections haven't improved during the fourth quarter," he writes. "Nothing has changed expectations that significant cuts will be necessary for all state agencies in the new fiscal year."

A 10 percent cut at UNC-CH will total about $60 million in lost funding.

One bright spot - a new contract UNC-CH just inked with Nike for apparel and equipment for sports teams include a $2 million donation to the Chancellor's Academic Enhancement Fund, which Thorp will use to pay fixed-term faculty and instructors.

Documents:

Update: The deal is worth nearly $38 million.

North Carolina has signed a 10-year deal with Nike to be the exclusive supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and accessory products to the Tar Heels, the school announced.

This marks UNC's fourth contract with Nike, and it is retroactive to July 1, 2008.