Cuts could doom USF pharmacy school

The consequences of a 60 percent state funding cut for the University of South Florida might not be clear to most students, but the threat is staring one group straight in the face.

More than 50 students make up USF's first College of Pharmacy class, and under the Senate budget-cutting plan, the $6 million for the college would be wiped out.

That's unimaginable to pharmacy college Dean Kevin Sneed.

"We have faculty who've come here from around the country. We're recruiting students for next year," Sneed said.

"With everything that's at stake, if would be a huge national embarrassment for the state of Florida if they did any damage to our pharmacy program."

Nevertheless, the cut is part of the Senate's budget plan, USF's Chief Operating Officer John Long told a crowd that gathered Monday night at USF.

Under a Senate budget committee plan released Friday, USF Tampa's state funding would be cut by at least $79 million, more than every other state university.

USF would lose an additional $49 million related to the creation of a new university in the place of its Lakeland campus, USF Polytechnic.

The pharmacy college loses because its operating money is part of the USF Poly funding package that would be shifted to the proposed new university.

"We fought for years to establish the first cohort of students" in the pharmacy college, Long said. "And this budget kills it."

It's one of six pharmacy programs in the state, three public and three private. Sneed said it's the only public program in a metropolitan area with several hospitals where students can gain real-life experience.

USF President Judy Genshaft spent Tuesday in Tallahassee talking to lawmakers about the damage the overall budget could do to USF, potentially forcing it to fire people, discontinue courses and increase class sizes.

At least 25 USF students are taking two vans to Tallahassee today to attend the Senate Budget Committee hearing.

Meantime, Sneed is trying to keep his students' minds on their studies toward the four-year doctorate that the program offers.

"I met with them this morning and told them, 'Don't worry about the newspapers. Worry about this pharmacology program you're in right now.' "

State Sen. JD Alexander, a Lake Wales Republican who leads the budget committee, is the architect of the proposed cuts and the plan for the new university.

He secured the funding for the pharmacy college last year, designating it for USF Polytechnic. This was before he began his campaign to create an independent university in Polk County.

But USF Poly didn't have any permanent facilities yet, which was an issue for the group that USF needs to sign off on the program — the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

So USF Health took over the program in Tampa, with a long-term plan to move it to Polk when USF Poly had the facilities.

In November, the state Board of Governors approved a plan to turn USF Poly into an independent university after it met a set of benchmarks, such as campus accreditation.

Alexander is pushing a bill that would circumvent the Board of Governors plan, shut down USF Poly and take its assets to establish "Florida Polytechnic University."

Under both plans, the pharmacy college would stay in Tampa.

Then came Alexander's budget plan last week, stripping away the pharmacy funding.

Sneed doesn't believe the Florida Legislature would do something so rash. He takes heart that the House budget includes more moderate university cuts and wouldn't strip away USF Poly's funding.

Still, the timing is inconvenient.

The pharmacy college is in the midst of a four-year accreditation process involving annual visits from accreditors. They're visiting next month.