SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 ISSUE
18 Layoffs Part of ASU Budget Reductions
At least 18 full-time employees at ASU will lose their jobs as part of the university’s mandated budget reduction plan, which was submitted to University of North Carolina system General Administration August 19 and reviewed by the UNC Board of Governors last week.
According to information submitted to system leaders by ASU, 18 filled full-time positions were eliminated as part of the plan—17 staff positions and one EPA non-faculty position. EPA (Exempt from the Personnel Act) includes positions such as instructional and research staff, physicians and senior academic and administrative officers.
No faculty at ASU will be laid off, but 53.3 vacant faculty positions were eliminated. In addition, seven vacant EPA non-faculty and 35 vacant staff positions were cut, and 12.5 EPA non-faculty and 50 staff positions were moved to other fund sources.
“There was just a lot of thinking and review about how to make certain that any reductions did the least amount of damage to the academic programs and offerings,” said Susan McCracken, director of external affairs and community relations at ASU.
Because of a $413,987,494 reduction in appropriations to the UNC system this year, each campus was required to submit a reduction plan to General Administration by August 19. Cuts were not across the board—they ranged from 8.4 percent at the N.C. School of Science and Math to 17.9 percent at UNC-Chapel Hill, according to materials presented at the September 9 Board of Governors meeting.
After factoring in enrollment growth funding and proceeds from a tuition increase, the net reduction is $16.7 million, or 11.7 percent in state funding at ASU, Chancellor Ken Peacock said in a memo last week.
The reductions in positions stated above are reflective of state-funded positions only and do not account for any reductions in positions funded by other sources. McCracken said she did not have information about other funding sources at ASU.
The General Assembly directed campuses to do the following in making cuts: reduce state funding for centers and institutes, speaker series and other nonacademic activities; adjust faculty workloads; restructure research activities, reduce senior and middle management positions, eliminate low-performing, redundant or low-enrollment programs; require faculty to have teaching workload equal to national Carnegie average; abolish vacant positions first; and make no reduction to need-based financial aid, among other directives.
Systemwide, about 20 percent of its faculty, EPA non-faculty and staff position reductions resulted in layoffs; at ASU, 10.2 percent resulted in layoffs.
Reductions in senior and middle management positions included an associate dean for the College of Health Sciences, two admissions recruiters, two academic advisors, an associate vice chancellor for Business Affairs and project manager in the office of Planning, Design & Construction.
Development officer positions were consolidated in the Office of University Advancement, and the directors of occupational health and safety and emergency management were combined to one position. A couple of University Police positions are now funded by student fees instead of state funds, McCracken said.
“That is an area we wanted to ensure we could protect,” she said.
Other Budget Cuts
According to the ASU budget reduction summary, 18 graduate and undergraduate programs were terminated, merged or put on probation. McCracken said the master’s programs for family and consumer science education and technology education were eliminated, while master’s programs for computer science, child development (birth to kindergarten) and gerontology were put on probation.
Seventy-four tenure-track faculty lost reassigned time (reduction in teaching duties for research) or were put on probation for losing reassigned time, and 30 faculty off-campus scholarly assignments were stopped.
Operating budgets for colleges and departments were reduced by 30 to 40 percent.
The Belk Library operating budget was slashed by 35 percent, with library hours reduced by 25 percent—meaning the facility is no longer open 24 hours any days of the week.
The plan also includes the closing of the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center, where ASU has been spending $700,000 in state appropriations on salaries and utilities, said Greg Lovins, interim vice chancellor for Business Affairs at ASU, in August.
ASU restructured its information technology (IT) system across campus and moved 16 IT positions from state-supported to fee-supported salaries. The university removed state funding for 17 positions in auxiliary units, center and institutes and Printing & Publications.
McCracken acknowledged that the community sees building projects or hears about ASU’s consideration of a move to a higher football division and questions cuts in faculty and staff positions.
Athletics receive no support from state appropriations, she pointed out, and housing receipts and student fees are funding the current construction of a residence hall and student union addition—not state funding.
“I think one thing that is really important to understand is our funding is really complex,” she said.
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