UNC's Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life existed in preliminary forms for several years but did not take its official form until last year, when it received $225,000 in funding from the legislature.
With funding cut, the program finds itself on unstable ground.
Program Director Ferrel Guillory said that although the source of funds is uncertain, the program will continue. "The program is alive and well," Guillory said.
The budget eliminates specific funding for the program, forcing UNC to rely on other sources to continue it.
Guillory and other program leaders will have to seek grant money from outside sources or appeal for funding from the University and its School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Guillory said the program has never relied solely on state funding. He said the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation of Winston-Salem is a benefactor that has provided the program with a grant to keep it running, although this one grant is not sufficient to sustain the program.
Jan Yopp, associate dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, could not specify whether the journalism school would provide any special funding for the program but said she believes the program will continue.
Yopp said she felt certain the funding cut does not reflect the effectiveness of the program but merely demonstrates the state's need to trim the budget. "The program is a very important program for the journalism school, for the University, for North Carolina and for the Southeast," she said.
Guillory said, "What we've begun to build here has begun to grow strong roots, and I am confident that we'll be able to find funding."
