As of March 15, the State Department of Administration imposed travel restrictions on all state agencies, including the UW System, to reduce the expenditures due to the budget constraints, Vice Chancellor Andy Soll said.

Each travel request is dealt with on a case by case situation. Typically, the nature of the travel is looked at and if it meets criteria, then it can proceed, Soll said.

For example, if a faculty/staff member is attending a conference as an officer, part of a committee, to make a presentation or for other official duty, it will be approved. This includes any travel by student sports teams, forensics or for any purpose of competition, Soll said.

Other areas, such as safety where training is mandated, clearly will proceed, said Soll.

However, faculty or staff who attend conferences for the general interest of professional development and not for the sake of presenting will be denied, Soll said.

“It’s definitely having an affect on the way we transact our business. Whether we’re going to be able to transact it effectively enough, it’s too soon to tell,” Soll said.

While he doesn’t expect it to be permanent, he said some of the restrictions may remain permanent. There has been no cut-off time set, Soll said.

Ted Wendt, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, says he has not had to deny anyone’s application to travel due to the restrictions and has not heard of anyone complaining about them.

“I’ve heard of a handful of incidents where faculty have said, ‘I thought I might be going,’ but then learned about the restrictions and didn’t put in a request to go,” Wendt said. “It’s hard to get a handle because people are simply making the determination.”

Certain state- and system-wide meetings that normally required travel are now being conducted through teleconferences. Most spring meetings were cancelled, such as the Business Officer’s meeting, which was to be held last week but instead had a teleconference, Soll said. V. Thomas Dock, dean of the College of Business, said there also have been four to five trips for conferences or meetings that have been cancelled or done through teleconference. However, everyone else who has presented an application for travel has been able to go, Dock said.

Due to the restrictions, a report must also be prepared on a quarterly basis reporting travel that was approved and what was denied. However, the first report won’t be released until sometime in July, Soll said.

“The travel may not be terribly expensive,” Soll said. “Yet we’re looking at ways to eliminate that kind of travel.”