Pitt fighting funding cuts

University officials, including Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, have written to top officials in the… University officials, including Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, have written to top officials in the U.S. Department of Education requesting that they reject the state’s application for federal stimulus money because it does not include Pitt and other state-related schools.

Gov. Ed Rendell announced last week that he would not include Pennsylvania’s four state-related schools – Pitt, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln universities – in the state’s application, saying that Pennsylvania does not have complete authority over them.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, through which Rendell applied for funds, is meant to give universities the resources they need to keep from raising their tuition, Nordenberg said in his letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan dated July 1.

The University, which had already frozen hiring and raises for faculty members, announced earlier this summer that it would not increase tuition at its satellite campuses. But, Nordenberg wrote that not being included in the state’s application for stimulus funds “changes everything.”

He said he thought a U.S. Department of Education decision to approve the state’s application would have “the potential to destroy a carefully crafted statutory structure designed to ensure that funds intended to support education are used for that purpose.”

Pitt, Penn State, Lincoln and Temple universities serve about 123,000 students from Pennsylvania, while the state’s 114 state-owned schools serve about 101,000, Nordenberg wrote.

Paul Supowitz, Pitt’s vice chancellor of governmental relations, spoke out against Rendell’s proposal too, sending two e-mails to another state department employee, Jimmy Yun. Supowitz called the exclusion of the state-related schools “inconsistent” with the Recovery Act and requested to further dicuss the matter with Department of Education officials.

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