ATLANTA --- The simmering budget crisis facing the state and the University System of Georgia was hardly mentioned Tuesday or Wednesday during the Board of Regents' monthly meeting.

It was referred to briefly when the board approved a statement of principles to "guide campus-level innovation" by urging the presidents of the state's 35 public colleges to seek ways to grow that don't depend on tax funds. 

Last week, members of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees for higher education asked for a list of cuts totaling $300 million that the system would make if it couldn't raise tuition or fees. The response included more than 4,000 layoffs, enrollment caps, closing of satellite campuses and the elimination of the 4-H youth program around the state.

In response to a firestorm of public reaction, legislative leaders said they were only seeking information and that no decisions had been made on funding levels or possible cuts.

"The level of media coverage, of e-mails and calls to our office - and I know to many of you (regents) - I think is a real testament to the significance of this University System and to the lives of virtually every person of this state," Chancellor Erroll Davis said Wednesday.