Local

UGA Forms Committee to Focus on Partial Shutdown

October 9th, 2013

The University of Georgia doesn't want to get caught flat-footed.

That's why the school has formed a university-wide committee to focus on the financial problems that could emerge if the partial shutdown of the federal government continues for an extended period of time.

“When you work for the government, these are things that you know will happen and you try to plan for them the best you can,” says Scott Angle, the dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UGA.

An audio version of this story.

The new committee will keep a close watch in case a contingency plan is needed.

“And the goal will be to protect research activities to the extent possible by developing a phased action plan,” says Regina Smith, the Associate Vice President for Research at UGA.

Smith is the chair of the new committee.

Angle says his department gets about 30% of its total funds from the federal government.

“So our approach is more to think about 'Do we have sources of money that possibly could lend the federal side support for a period of time,'” says Angle.

However the shutdown has already left a mark on UGA. The school says a previously scheduled lecture with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is postponed until further notice.