Chancellor Rebecca Blank and the Faculty Senate addressed the impact Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget cuts would have on the University of Wisconsin System in a meeting Monday.

Faculty Senate chair Jo Ellen Fair presented a resolution that expressed the Faculty Senate’s “strong opposition to the proposed $300 million cut to the UW System budget.” The resolution also addresses UW faculty’s concern that the budget cuts will “unnecessarily impair” UW and Wisconsin as a whole.

The resolution notes that major reductions in state support would “diminish the quality, breadth and access to education for Wisconsin residents” as well as pose challenges for UW’s leadership and faculty.

Fair responded to concerns saying the resolution did not address the possibility of a public authority.

“We don’t know anything about the public authority or how it will be defined,” Fair said. “I don’t think efficiencies will be gained right away.”

Fair said the Faculty Senate needs to be more confident on what the entire faculty thinks before issuing a statement in order not to hinder full discussion of the topic.

The Faculty Senate made several amendments to the resolution.

Fair said there is a “fine line” regarding what the Faculty Senate can say about the UW System because it is important to have a statement specific to UW-Madison. The Faculty Senate amended the preamble of the resolution to present the UW System as a unit.

Blank said the proposed $300 million budget cut is the deepest cut UW has ever received in biennial budget cuts and it has come on top of the $60 million cut two years ago.

“We cannot do that in one year, it is not possible,” Blank said. “Part of the challenge is having pulled our tuition reserves down at the discretion of the state legislature.”

Blank said filling this hole with reserves is going to be difficult, if not impossible. She said UW will look for ways to spread the cuts throughout operating units as well as research cuts.

There will be layoffs at almost every school and college and an increased cap on the percentage of out-of-state students, she said.

“It is going to be a difficult year,” Blank said. “I wouldn’t say this is an utter disaster for the university, but we have some serious changes to make in our operations and all of you are going to feel that in some way or another.”