Dear Colleagues,

You have been watching the legislative impasse regarding budget for
2002-2003.  As we near the end of the fiscal year 2002, some uncertainty
now looms for budget and operating authority to begin 2002-2003.

  That new year is supposed to start Monday, July 1, 2002.

President Shumaker has been alerted by state officials in Nashville to make
necessary and prudent plans for the university in case there continues to
be an impasse over state budget.  While time certainly remains for the
legislature to create a budget for next year even in the remaining 3 or 4
days of this session/year, we do need to do our campus planning to
accommodate a possible day or week or other time delay in beginning an
authorized and budgeted fiscal 2002-2003.

We will be asking state officials to allow us to define essential services
of safety, etc. to include finishing summer school instruction periods
already begun, but the possibility exists that we might be forced to delay
start of other instructional periods until the legislature produces the
next budget.

The University Budget Committee will meet in its usual public format on
Friday at noon to consider the latest developments and consider options
available to protect students, faculty, staff, and institutional integrity.
In the mean time, I would encourage faculty and staff to consider ways of
minimizing the potentially disruptive impact of a delay in the operation of
UTC this summer.

Sorry to bring this additional task to the campus, but we must continue to
provide the best operation that is possible for our UTC family.


Bill