Jane Huh
Daily Egyptian
Chancellor Walter Wendler is expecting finalized recommendations on layoffs and other cuts by the Friday before Thanksgiving.
Department and college heads will present their finalized recommendations by mid-November as the school grapples with a $15 million budget hole.
The chancellor said the deans and vice chancellors will come up with their recommended list specifying what areas within the departments can afford to be cut, including layoffs and graduate assistantships. For now, layoffs are postponed.
"We're at the process of looking at their areas of responsibilities, ways to reduce our overhead and do some reorganization to save money," Wendler said.
College deans will soon assess their department's spending and bring their reports up to the provost, who will then pass it along to the chancellor, said George Swisher, dean of the College of Engineering.
The chancellor said a careful, long-term look into targeting cuts is required to ensure that the right decisions are made.
Spending, including on administration and faculty travel, will be sustained as long as the costs go toward promoting educational opportunities and academic excellence, Wendler said.
Swisher said the November deadline requires all departments to make assessments at a fast pace, but he understands the earlier the process gets done, the sooner future school budgeting gets done.
To keep faculty and staff layoffs at a minimum, spending on college programs, including the Digital Communication Specialization in the College of Mass Communications and Media Arts and Expansion Initiative Center for Excellence in Soybean Research, was cut. Also, departments are not hiring faculty vacancies left by retirees or replacing non-returning staff.
"We're just beginning to think about it," Swisher said. "Pretty much, everyone makes recommendations, even the chancellor but the chancellor and the [BOT] make the decisions. That's the typical nature of the University."
Reporter Jane Huh can be reached at jhuh@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
