In an open forum with faculty and students Wednesday, Texas A&M Interim President Dr. R. Bowen Loftin covered his plan to cut 20 million dollars, so that those saved funds could be moved to areas that need the help.

Part of his plan reduces the merit program for faculty from 3 percent down to 2 percent, and eliminates merit increases for non-faculty employees that make more than $175,000 per year.

Dr. Loftin hopes by reducing spending in some areas that it will allow for more financial stability throughout the campus.

“If we can simply take funds that we are not having to use to do our core mission, and reallocate those in ways that let us have stability of funding, we’re going to have a much stronger university in the long run," Loftin said.

Dr. Loftin did take questions from many faculty members, who voiced concerns over many aspects of the proposed cuts, and asked where the proposed money that would be saved would end up, and if now was an appropriate time to cut money when A&M was showing financial stability.

While many were pleased with the open forum, they felt there was more that needed to be covered.

“There’s simply a lot of questions that we still need to ask. And this is a good start at asking the questions, but it’s not enough time to answer all those questions. And we’re still trying to formulate some of the questions that we need to ask in the future," said A&M faculty member Angie Hill Price.

Other open forums are planned for the future, although no dates have been announced yet.

Click Here to view the President's letter to the Vice Presidents about the budget cuts.