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The University of Florida Board of Trustees approved the budget reductions plan proposed by University President Bernie Machen. This morning the Board along with Machen and UF officials met to have the plan formally approved. Machen recommended some changes be made to the plan concerning the budget for the University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He says after speaking with the dean and faculty of the college, a compromise was made to reduce the number of layoffs and change the PhD Program rather than complete elimination of it. Board of Trustees member and Chair of the Faculty Senate Rick Yost says the changes made today are a good sign that the President is trying to be as fair as possible.

Within the plan, the board alloted Machen a 60 day period to make any more changes. Vice President of Administration Kyle Cavanaugh says the the 60 days will be good to make sure everything will be ready before the plan is put into effect.

Cavanaugh also says making the cuts has been hard on everyone.
With all the budget cuts that have come down, Yost believes the University needs to come up with more ways to bring in money.

Diane James is a third year grad student studying Japanese within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She says the only reason she decided to go to UF was because of its language programs.

Machen will continue to look over the plan within the next couple of months to determine if anything else is needed to be changed. He will need to have all of his changes approved by the Board of Trustees before the plan becomes effective on July 1st.