The current Alaska budget crisis is directly tied to the Saudi ruling families' putting the screws to Vladimir Putin for his expansion agenda in Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia. Undoubtedly this petroleum warfare was done with the blessing, perhaps instigation, of the Obama administration and is intended to flood world oil markets, lowering prices to squeeze Russia's oil-dependent economy. To what extent it works will depend, in large measure, on Russia's "cursed capacity for suffering," as Boris Pasternak put it.
Alaska's oil-dependent state budget is collateral damage, and the $3.5 billion budget shortfall is certainly cause for concern. But two factors mitigate the fear bordering on hysteria that is circulating through the state. First, it is unlikely that President Barack Obama or the Saudis will allow the intimidation to go on for years. To do so invites war by desperate nations. Second, thanks in part to ACES legislation, Alaska has $61 billion in savings, of which $21 billion can be used for the general fund. According to the state's www.alaskabudget.com, this is enough to carry us for three years with no oil taxes at all and through 2030 factoring in projected gradual oil revenue decline.
That is not to say that our state government could not stand some prudent budget cutting. Almost certainly every branch of state government has something like the Statewide System in the University of Alaska.
There are four branches of the University of Alaska. The three universities -- UAF, UAA, and UAS -- teach students, confer degrees and conduct research generating revenue through tuition and grant overhead. Each has an administration that keeps the lights on. The fourth branch, the Statewide System, does not teach or do research and does not generate revenue.
So what does statewide do? Well it performs the necessary functions of human resources, finance and legal matters. But the bulk of its budget involves initiatives and analysis.
Lately the major initiative of statewide was a series of hearings and focus groups held around Alaska called "Shaping Alaska's Future." Statewide's analysis has outlined five themes, called "Shaping Themes." The first is "Student Achievement and Attainment." After hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless man-hours, statewide concludes that the university should be involved in student achievement and attainment. I think a few folks sitting around a coffee shop in Midtown Anchorage could have come up with that one.
Another theme is "Accountability to the People of Alaska." Accountability is good, but the first example is that Gov. Bill Walker has appointed four new members to the UA Board of Regents. Well, four members' terms are up and Walker is required by statute to appoint replacements. So the university is accountable by saying they are accountable because the governor is being accountable. Somebody must have a BS degree.
UA has had two generals as its past two presidents that have applied a military command structure to the university. Statewide started small but in recent years has grown to a $28 million budget, about the same as the entire UAS budget.
Military command structures necessarily have a large number of officers analyzing and strategizing. But a university's battle is against ignorance, not an enemy with live bullets involving complicated logistics. The war of the university is in the trenches of the classroom and the research laboratories where knowledge is produced or imparted. These tasks focus around the professor. Wise professors with advanced degrees will continue to develop their skills, refine their perceptions, and above all, listen to their students and community. In my 42 years of teaching and research, top-down strategies and initiatives have not affected me much. Just give me and my colleagues the space and tools to do our jobs.
A pragmatic budget measure would be to keep statewide's legal, financial and HR departments and cut the rest -- and that's about a $25 million savings for Walker. The only ones who will know they are gone will be the janitors that clean their offices. And reallocating at least some of the $25 million savings would greatly help the three universities as they struggle to meet the significant budget cuts they are facing.
Walker needs to seek out other dead weight in Alaska's government. But now is not the time to panic, we have time and we have money. The real problem will be when oil prices once again reach $80-plus per barrel levels and, thanks to SB 21, we won't have windfall oil-profit taxes to replenish the Constitutional Budget Reserve.
Alan Boraas is a professor of anthropology at Kenai Peninsula College.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.