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University of Alaska threatened by ‘devastating’ budget cuts

Image: Alaska Governor's Office [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy has vetoed more than a third of the 2020 budget for his state’s public university system, prompting an outcry from researchers and students.

In a press release on 28 June, Dunleavy said the dramatic cuts were necessary for the subarctic, oil-rich state to balance its books. In an open letter of response, University of Alaska president Jim Johnsen described the proposed elimination of $130 million from his institution’s 2020 budget as “devastating”.

“If not overridden, today’s veto will strike an institutional and reputational blow from which we may likely never recover,” said Johnsen. The cuts to the state-funded portion of the university’s operating budget will fall on two of the three sub-universities that together form the state system, Fairbanks and Anchorage, as well as state-wide parts.

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