Chancellor Mark Nordenberg addresses state budget cuts

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg attributed last year’s state budget cuts to a frantic new state… Chancellor Mark Nordenberg attributed last year’s state budget cuts to a frantic new state administration and large budget deficit, but he said that the deep proposed cuts to Pitt’s funding this year are uncalled for.

“When we got together in March, it was fair to say we were dealing with a new administration,” he said. But 13 months into Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration, Nordenberg isn’t ready to be as understanding.

On Monday night, Nordenberg addressed about 150 students and staff in Alumni Hall on Corbett’s proposed budget cuts to state-related schools. He spoke for 45 minutes about the cuts and what students can do to get the state legislature to hear students’ voices.

At the beginning of February, Corbett proposed a 30 percent cut to Pitt’s budget, which would bring next year’s state funding from $136 million down to $95.2 million. Last year, Corbett originally proposed a 50 percent cut to the four state-related schools, but the state legislature passed the budget in June with a 19 percent cut in state appropriations.

Nordenberg suggested that the new administration rushed deliberation on these evaluative decisions, making Pitt an “accidental target” of reduced funding.

Nordenberg then praised the efforts of the Pitt community in its advocacy following Corbett’s first budget proposal.

“We immediately mobilized and were able to blunt some of what had been proposed,” he said. “We need all of those efforts again this year.”

To get students involved, the Student Government Board is sponsoring a two-day letter-writing campaign Tuesday and Wednesday, which will be held in the Kurtzman Room of the William Pitt Union from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Students will be able to write letters to their state legislators asking them to reduce the cuts to Pitt’s state funding.

Additionally, Pitt Day in Harrisburg will be held on March 13, with registration opening March 1. Nordenberg said about 500 students, staff and faculty traveled to the state capital last year, and SGB Governmental Relations Chair Robert Beecher said that at least 150 came from Pitt’s Oakland Campus.

Beecher said that he is optimistic about the turnout and support he expects from this year’s Pitt Day in Harrisburg, given the event’s considerable success in 2011.

Nordenberg urged students to approach legislators and officials with respect and stories of their personal connections to Pitt, suggesting that “respectful persuasion is the way in which you move people.”