President Schafer addressed the current budget shortfall in a video sent to the UND community on Tuesday. Image courtesy of UND

In a video sent to the UND campus last Tuesday, Interim President Ed Schafer updated the campus on the university’s plans to start working on the new budget plans for UND.

Schafer said he is excited to come back to his alma mater and start helping the university get back on its feet once again.

“The high quality faculty, hardworking students, and the dedicated staff and administration has led me to believe in the quality and excellence of this institution.” Schafer said in the video.

The main plan is for everybody to work together to tackle the budget problem and eventually reshape the university.

“Now that we will face some challenges, I believe this university is well positioned to attack those challenges, for all of us to roll up our sleeves so that we can work together to reshape our budget and reshape our university so it will be stronger in the years to come,” said Schafer.

Schafer expressed a desire for all people on campus to be represented during the discussion regarding the budget. Schafer says his ultimate goal is to come out of his interim presidency with a budget plan that will help build a stronger university in the long run.

“Now that we will face some challenges, I believe this university is well positioned to attack those challenges, for all of us to roll up our sleeves so that we can work together to reshape our budget and reshape our university so it will be stronger in the years to come,” Schafer said.

Schafer also said that the $5 million deficit has been solved, so now the university is free to start working on finding a way to meet the budget cuts resulting from the governor’s allotment.

The allotment is a 4.05% budget cut across all state agencies that was put in effect by Governor Dalrymple in order to address the current budget shortfall in North Dakota. The budget shortfall was caused in part by depressed commodity prices, which has led to lower than expected tax revenues. The budget shortfall will also result in close to $500 million dollars being withdrawn from the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund to cover the rest of the funding gap, according to the AP.

Schafer’s goal is for everyone to work together so everyone can do this for the future of UND, and Schafer expressed confidence that this task will be completed, and he mentioned he has done the same thing only with the state of North Dakota.

“When we did that job we built a foundation that shaped north Dakota to 10 years later become the #1 state in the united states of America,” said Schafer  “That leads me to believe that we can do that here at the university.”

Schafer also mentioned in the video the nickname that he garnered during his time as governor: Mr. 95 percent. He received this nickname because during his time as governor, he had agency heads prepare budgets at 95 percent to prepare for potential budget cuts.

“I know that we will come out of this with a stronger university, a place that we have engaged and well paid faculty, a place where the staff and administration find jobs and careers that long term and solid and permanent and that students are going to get an excellent education experience here preparing them for their jobs their careers and their families, engaged deeply in the community,” Schafer said.

Journey Gontjes is staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]