The University Of Wyoming Board Of Trustees has approved a number of regulation changes that outline how the university would respond to any future, significant reduction in its budget.

The trustees approved the changes to regulations 6-41, 6-42,6-43, 6-44 and 1-101 during their meeting Thursday.

The regulation changes drew concern from some faculty members at the university, who felt that the changes were a power grab, which would enable the trustees to eliminate academic programs and discharge faculty.

The university said the proposed changes were meant to address issues that arose from the university’s recent budget reduction and to update inconsistencies and inefficiencies in the decision-making process.

The regulations were originally set to be discussed at the trustee’s May meeting, but after the UW Faculty Senate raised concerns, the discussion was moved to July. Later in May, UW said that an agreement was reached after a lengthy meeting between Trustee John McKinley and UW Professor Dr. Michael Barker, representing the Faculty Senate.

“Unfortunately I think there was some misunderstanding, but trustee McKinley and Michael [Barker], thanks to their efforts, worked through those,” Trustees President David True said. “I understand they are now in a form for everyone’s satisfaction.”

Trustee Michelle Sullivan said she was happy with how the concerns were handled.

“Because sometimes these processes take a long time, I think sometimes we miss stuff and I think we were able to enter into some of those discussions and revisit in a way that was very productive and positive,” Sullivan said. “I want to thank my committee members John [McKinley] in particular but also the Faculty Senate for coming back and working with us.”

True said he appreciated everyone’s “tenacity” and “patience.”

 

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