The Academic Planning Committee published a follow-up to Chancellor Perlman’s recommended budget reductions (http://www.unl.edu/ucomm/chancllr/2009budget/) using campus-wide communication channels. The task of the APC is to review the Chancellor's proposed cuts in light of their probable impact on the university's academic mission and approve them or suggest other ways of meeting the budget reduction goal. Further, we set two dates for hearings where all who may be affected by the proposed reductions could have a voice and we provided contact information for written responses. This notice to the campus is located here: http://www.unl.edu/ucomm/chancllr/2009budget/20090701_apcprocedures.shtml Budget hearings are scheduled for July 30 and September 18, 2009. The July session will focus primarily on the proposed administrative reductions while the September hearing will focus on those reductions mainly affecting academics. These hearings provide an opportunity for concerns to be voiced publicly. No one is required to attend these hearings and participation and attendance is optional. The APC requests that, in order to coordinate the hearings schedule, all individuals wishing to respond to the proposals submit a written notice of intent to appear. This notice of intent is nonbinding and an individual or unit that expresses the intent to appear may later decline (Please note that one who does not submit such a notice of intent may still be heard at one of the hearings but will probably have very limited time compared to those who file a notice of intent). Once the quantity of presenters is known, a schedule of times on each date will be published. The written notice of intent to appear must identify the meeting at which the party prefers to appear, the specific budget reduction(s) that will be discussed, the name of the presenter, and contact information for the presenter. The notice of intent should be sent to the Academic Planning Committee, c/o Dr. William Nunez, APC Secretary, 332 Canfield Administration Building, 0435 or wnunez2@unl.edu by 3 p.m., July 20, 2009.

Dr. Paul Hoffman, Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology Emeritus at Harvard University