A recent cost-containment recommendation could force the Latin American and Iberian Institute to close up shop.

The Provost’s review committee drafted a report recommending the LAII begin to transition from a University-funded to an externally funded budget, but LAII Director Susan Tiano said it is impossible.

“Depending on how they cut us, we might have to close our doors,” she said. “The kinds of grants that we can apply for are mostly direct services to students and faculty — they don’t pay for administrative costs. If they take our budget away, there will be no staff to provide the programs or manage the projects and most of the grants that we get require institutional support or commitment.”

The Provost’s review committee Chair Leo Romero said the committee based its recommendation to withdraw LAII funding on documents provided by the institute.

“We reviewed the report submitted by the Latin American Institute,” he said. “They submitted it to us in terms of what their functions were, their budgets were and what their staffing was. We basically were relying on information provided to us by the LAII.”

The institute has already taken budget hits in recent years, said Amanda Wolfe, LAII associate director for program development.
“We don’t have any fat left, and if there is a perception that we do, it is vastly incorrect,” she said.

The LAII funds about 75 students annually through scholarships, fellowships and travel grants, Tiano said.

Graduate student Lucinda Grinnell said a group of graduate students will publicly deliver letters to President Schmidly today opposing the recommendations. She said the LAII provides fellowships and funding that allow graduates to conduct research in Latin America.

“We are not calling off the idea of a protest in the future, but at this point we are just trying to communicate with the administration,” she said.

Provost Suzanne Ortega said money for meeting grant requirements could come from several places on campus. She said the recommendations are strictly preliminary strategies.

“The budget folks in my office tried to identify what a reasonable, doable short-term cut might be,” she said. “Of course, these are only our first estimates and any ultimate cut could be more or less.”

Tiano said the provost’s committee likely didn’t understand the institute’s spectrum of activities.
“We understand how these committees work,” she said. “Faculty get hauled in when asked nicely. They meet and never have enough time and have to come up with these recommendations. … We aren’t mad at these people for trying to hurt us because they are faculty — they are friends. In their situation, they didn’t quite understand what we do.”

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