Editor's Note: On Dec. 3, President Malcolm Portera sent the following e-mail campus wide to explain a proposed budget reduction for fiscal year 2003.

Mississippi's Joint Legislative Budget Committee has released funding recommendations for state agencies for FY 2002-03 that would result in a further severe budget reduction for Mississippi State University. We must begin to prepare immediately to adjust to yet another reduction in state support.

The LBC recommends an overall decrease in state appropriations of more than $86 million for state universities for next year. At Mississippi State, that would likely result in an appropriation for the fiscal year beginning next July 1 that is $15 million, or about 18 percent, below the current year's level of support for general operations. (As you recall, current year state support already is down about $13 million from the previous year.)

The Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine faces an additional reduction of about $10 million in state funds for next year.

These proposed cuts are very serious and cannot be accommodated without significant impact on current operations. While we have in effect made plans already to deal with a significant portion of the anticipated further reduction, much remains to be done.

Part of the expected cut will result from elimination of the Budget Contingency Fund, or "bridge funds," made available to the university this year and amounting to about $6.6 million for MSU and $5.3 million for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry, and Veterinary Medicine. We have for the most part held that funding in reserve this year to deal with mid-year budget reductions such as the one announced in early November. That funding is not committed to continuing expenditures, and its loss, therefore, will not require significant new adjustments in our operations.

We are faced, however, with a further E&G budget cut of about $8.4 million that is currently committed to continuing operations of the university. We must plan to function without that funding next year.

It is critical that we begin immediately to reduce expenditures wherever we can in order to preserve funds that can be used to help offset next year's significantly lower funding level. Budget managers throughout the university should make every effort to identify opportunities to realize savings.

I have conferred with interim president-designate Charles Lee concerning the university's immediate response to this latest challenge. Steps that are being considered for immediate implementation to reduce expenditures from E&G budgets include:

--Freezing all staff positions and some faculty positions;

--Reducing travel, both in-state and out-of-state;

--Deferring equipment purchases except for emergencies and critical needs.

Longer term, it is probable that the Board of Trustees will consider another tuition increase next year, but given the magnitude of the proposed cut and the fact that tuition increased this year by 15 percent, such an increase cannot solve the problem we face.

While a reduction in next year's budget was anticipated, the severity of the proposed cut exceeded our expectations and planning assumptions. The full Legislature will consider the recommendations of the Legislative Budget Committee during the session beginning in early January, and we will be working with other parts of higher education, business, and industry to seek some relief.

The LBC recommendation includes a proposed 2 percent salary increase for university employees that would be effective January 1, 2003.