Lawmakers Vote To Take Northern Off Chopping Block

“Lawmakers on Tuesday nixed any suggestion that Montana State University-Northern could face the chopping block in the next legislative session. Legislators on the Interim Finance Committee met Monday and Tuesday at the Capitol to consider a host of ideas from legislative staff as to what lawmakers might consider cutting when they return to Helena in January for the 2011 session,” reports the Great Falls Tribune. “Legislative staffers developed hundreds of suggestions for cutting costs and programs to make up for the state's deficit as it braces for an estimated budget shortfall of at least $350 million. A suggestion to close MSU-Northern's Havre campus was on that list”