University funding will never be the same, Huckaby tells retirees
"My guess is, we'll never go back to that level of relative funding," Huckaby said during a reception for new University of
Huckaby also talked about some of the challenges he and the university system have faced since he became chancellor four years ago, and the reason for some of the big changes in the university system he's overseen.
He did not talk about one thing that's been on the minds of retirees lately -- upcoming changes in the university system's healthcare plans.
University system retirees eligible for
When Huckaby agreed to become chancellor in 2011, some state legislators were calling for big changes in the university system, Huckaby told the retirees.
The university system was seen as aloof and distant, expensive and irrelevant, Huckaby said.
With the governor's support, he said the university system has made some changes to answer those criticisms.
When Huckaby took office, the university system included 35 colleges and universities, but thanks to a series of consolidations, that number will soon be 29, he said.
"Consolidating schools was done to reduce the amount of money we were spending in administration and move that money to the academic side of the house," he said.
A new focus on the workforce has made the university system more relevant to the state's needs, he said, citing the "Complete College Georgia" initiative designed to dramatically increase the number of graduates coming out of the university system's schools and colleges.
But UGA and the university system were hurt by five years without pay raises.
The governor and state Legislature approved small pay increases averaging 2 percent this year and last.
But it will take similar pay raises "over the next three or four years to make up the ground we've lost," he said.
When Huckaby took on the chancellor's job, he put brought three senior administrators with him, including a UGA vice president,
"We spend a lot of time playing defense," said Huckaby, who was at one time the university's senior vice president for Finance and Administration when
One example is the push by some legislators to legalize guns on campus, he said.
So far, university system officials have managed to fend off those efforts, because of relationships he and others in the university system office have with Gov.
"So much of what happens is about the relationships you build," he said.
But gun legislation will be back on the table again next year, he predicted.
Another potential piece of legislation that didn't move would have taken away the authority of the university system and its colleges to deal with sexual assault; that would be left up to local police agencies, he said.
"When I get up every day," he said, "I don't know what the next crisis will be."
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