Lafayette Advertiser: College cuts: Department of theater

The state government budget has grown so big so quickly that the higher education cuts being proposed by Gov. Bobby Jindal get obscured in a dark forest of zeroes.

A projected $1.3 billion deficit. Proposed cuts of $440 million in state higher education funding. Proposed cuts of $13 million for UL alone, which gets $96 million of its $151 million budget from the state government.

New UL President E. Joseph Savoie sees things a little differently, with a little more context after his years of service in UL's administration and with the state's higher education system. Savoie noted recently that during the oil crunch years, when low petroleum prices squeezed state government almost to the point of passing out, UL sustained 13 cuts totalling about a quarter of its original budget. Adding together the 6.4 percent cut already inflicted this year and the proposed cuts in the governor's budget and unfunded mandated increases in expenses, the university is really looking at a 25 percent reduction.

There's more