April 24, 2012 
I am writing to urge you to join faculty from across the campus, graduate students, undergraduates, staff, and Gainesville-area residents, for a rally to demand:
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 12 NOON, TURLINGTON PLAZA
THE FACTS ARE NOT IN QUESTION: The Florida Legislature cut funding to all state universities this year and apportioned those cuts according to the amount that each university has in its reserves. Both the Legislature and the Board of Governors (BOG) have made it clear that universities are expected to spend from their “unrestricted net assets,” the university’s reserves, to cover this temporary budget shortfall.
Recent audits show that as of June 30, 2011, UF had at least $110 million in unrestricted net assets—enough to cover the shortfall several times over.
Read More (see charts on pages 21, 25)
UF’S PRIORITIES _ARE_ IN DOUBT: Other state universities are following the legislative directive to spend down their reserves. UF’s administration, however, has opted to dismantle successful departments (such as CISE), lay off valuable staff members (as in the plan for CLAS), abrogate their commitments to funded graduate students, bypass shared governance, undercut tenure and academic freedom, damage UF’s reputation, and undermine the University’s academic mission.
The provost has made clear that more cuts are coming and no one is safe. It is time to stand together to
SAVE UF! SPEND THE RESERVES!
Sign the Petition and come to the rally and study break at noon on Wednesday! Free pizza for UF students, faculty and staff.
Facebook event: Save UF! Spend the Reserves! Rally & Study Break
and campaign page: Stop the Cuts Campaign
As an alumni of the University of Maryland, which has a world-class Computer Science department, this proposal is unfathomable to me. As a software developer with over 25 years in the IT industry, 30 years in software alone, to gut the department of research is insanity. Research is vital to producing the future brain-trust in the high-tech sector. This will not be achieved on the football field.