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By Linda P. Brady and Harold L. Martin

As chancellors of the two largest public universities in the Piedmont Triad, we take to heart our mission to educate the workforce of tomorrow as well as our responsibility to help enhance the quality of life for the communities in which we live.

Part of what makes N.C. A&T State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro distinctive is our connection to Greensboro and the Triad. Thanks to the generous support of our local community and taxpayers across the state, collaborations such as the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering were made possible.

By training our local workforce in industries of the future and facilitating collaborations between world-class researchers and businesses, we are working together more closely than ever before to deliver a strong return on taxpayer investments. Unfortunately, the budget cuts recently recommended by Gov. Bev Perdue for the next fiscal year would result in permanent and substantial damage to our institutions' academic core, and our ability to prepare students to compete successfully in today's global economy.

N.C. A&T and UNCG worked diligently to handle this current fiscal year's cuts with minimal damage to our academic core and have dealt with reductions principally by reducing funding for administration.

In the current fiscal year, the UNC system permanently reduced its budget by 6 percent or $162.5 million in addition to a one-time reversion of $134 million and targeted those cuts on administrative costs in order to protect the classroom.

Although the UNC system accounts for only 13 percent of General Fund appropriations, last fiscal year it contributed nearly 30 percent of the budget reversions imposed across state government, bringing the total cuts to the UNC system budgets this year to almost $300 million.

The General Assembly's budget for 2010-11 already reduces the university system budgets by another 2 percent. An additional 3.9 percent budget reduction, resulting in total cuts of nearly 6 percent, would cut directly into the academic core, significantly reducing the quality of academic instruction and student experience at A&T and UNCG.

The previous round of budget cuts already has resulted in fewer courses and bigger classes, but further cuts could change the very nature of our campuses.

A&T and UNCG would have to eliminate more than 900 course sections resulting in 25,000 fewer "seats" in classrooms. Fewer classes mean students can't take the courses they need to graduate. Retention and graduation rates would undoubtedly decline as a result. Additional budget cuts would reduce the number of student majors in high-priority degree programs, such as teacher education, nursing and the sciences, because of limited course availability.

The current proposed cuts of nearly 6 percent also would significantly reduce services provided to our students beyond the classroom. Students would see fewer academic advisers, fewer financial aid officers and fewer mental health counselors.

The proposed cuts would likely force departments to postpone hiring research faculty, let temporary appointments lapse and leave research positions unfilled. The cuts threaten to slow our research growth and, in turn, our ability to help create much-needed jobs.

A thriving community requires creative researchers, innovative teachers, skilled nurses and some of the brightest minds in the world of business and technology. Our universities are strategically connected and uniquely poised to deliver these needs not only for Greensboro but the entire Triad region and beyond.

As economic engines and centers of innovation for the Triad, our teaching, research and outreach have never been more important to this region's economic future. The recommended budget cuts threaten our ability to equip students with the skills needed to compete in a knowledge-based global economy and diminish our ability to contribute to economic development.

Join us in asking our legislative leaders to minimize cuts to our universities and to preserve academic quality, fiscal integrity and access to education. Our students and our community deserve no less.

Linda P. Brady is chancellor of UNCG; Harold L. Martin is chancellor of N.C.A&T.