Proposed cuts would ‘decimate’ College of Pharmacy

When the Senate voted last week to restore $3 million to USF's College of Pharmacy after proposing to slash its entire budget, many heralded it as a victory for USF.

Yet Pharmacy Dean Kevin Sneed said the $3 million budget is still highly debilitating.

"That would totally decimate everything we've been able to accomplish to this point," he said. "We're a brand new college starting out, trying to grow."

The College of Pharmacy, established a year ago, was intended to be housed at USF Polytechnic. The Florida Legislature awarded $10 million last year for the construction of a Pharmacy building at the Lakeland campus and$6 million in recurring funds to start the program, which has 53 students.

Yet when a conforming bill put forth by Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, proposed to immediately sever Polytechnic from USF and create an independent12th university, the College of Pharmacy was returned to the USF System without the $6 million used to fund it.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman and longtime Polytechnic separatist Sen. JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said during last week's Senate meeting that the $3 million would be "more than adequate" for the College.

"A couple years ago, USF got the School of Pharmacy approved by the Board of Governors saying it would cost no additional state support, and quite frankly we had a bit of a discussion and ultimately appropriated $6 million for the potential support of theprogram ultimately at Polytech," Alexander said. "In the interim, it has been operated and started in Tampa."

Sneed, who met with the Legislature last year, said USF never expressed an intent to not use state support for the school, but remains hopeful that the budget will be restored further.

"In my mind, it's a great beginning," he said. "We're very appreciative that Sen. Alexander was able to restore some of those cuts, (but) the Senate budget was just one part of a process. In the House budget, governor's budget and Board of Governors' budget we had no cuts."

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Proposed cuts would ‘decimate’ College of Pharmacy