‘Our voices weren’t heard’: Faculty outcry grows as UNL faces $27.5 million in budget cuts

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Tension is building at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as the American Association of University Professors is speaking out.

They questioned UNL’s plan to cut $27.5 million from the budget at a press conference on Wednesday.

The AAUP said the budget cut lacked transparency and called for some questions.

According to financial analyst Dr. Bonnie Fox Garrity, the shift in spending over the last 10 years shows a 53.1% increase in administrative spending.

While the instructional spending for professors, for example, only increased by 30%.

“This is the second year in the past five that we haven’t gotten a cost-of-living raise,” said UNL AAUP President and professor Sarah Zuckerman. “It’s really difficult when you look through all the administrative salaries and recognizing, ‘Mmm maybe you don’t need a living raise, but I do.'”

And at UNL, many professors said the decision feels sudden, unclear and devastating.

UNL also saw increases in salaries for non-instructional staff and decreases for instructional staff from 2019 to 2025.

Zuckerman said faculty feel left out of the decision-making process and worry about what comes next.

“It’s more than our voices weren’t heard, it’s that we weren’t invited to the table,” she said.

The cuts could impact multiple programs across campus, and students said they’re already feeling the uncertainty.

Faculty members fear that the trust and morale between the university and its staff are on the verge of breaking down.

“Having students cry while you’re trying to tell them, ‘Hey, we have to work on your presentation,’ and they’re just really upset that we could all be losing our jobs,” Zuckerman said.

University officials said the reductions are necessary to balance the budget, but many professors believe the cost is too high.

The university sent the following statement to Channel 8 regarding the report released on Wednesday:

“The University of Nebraska values the essential role of faculty and appreciates the engagement…the report shared today raises important questions, but it does not adequately reflect the complexity of university finances.”