Story Published: May 1, 2009 at 9:03 PM PST
Story Updated: May 1, 2009 at 9:03 PM PST
Friday, Elson Floyd, and WSU Provost Warwick Bayly announced details of a more than 10 percent, two-year, preliminary budget reduction plan.
Three programs, one major, and more than 200 current employees will draw the short straws, and will not factor into the future of the university. A total of 370 jobs are being eliminated. 170 of them represent unfilled positions.
"Because we have engaged in cost-cutting measures before the fiscal crisis occurred, we now have one-time funds which will enable to provide every full-time permanent employee, with a few exceptions, a minimum of 90 days notice," said Floyd.
Two separate 14 percent tuition increases were approved to offset some the university's deficit. Bayly said they are working with federal aid and grant programs on those increases, saying the lower your family's tax bracket, the lower the increase.
"We believe that the net impact of this increase in tuition, to the majority of our students, will be zero or close to zero," said Bayly. "We certainly are hoping and planning for that tot be the case."
30 other departments are scheduled to take cuts, including Athletics, which came under fire in recent weeks after rumors that sports would go untouched.
Floyd said none of the decisions were easy.
"This is a remarkable place, we have great employees we have wonderful students, world class programs across the spectrum of what we do, but the reality is we must balance our budget at the end of the day, and this approach does precisely that," said Floyd.
Below is the news release issued by WSU on the budget reduction plan:
__________________________________________________________
PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University will cut about 370 jobs, eliminate several academic programs and reorganize some administrative units as part of its preliminary plan to reduce its budget by 10.38 percent or about $54 million for the upcoming biennium.
The job losses will be felt on all four of the university’s campuses and on research and extension units statewide. Of those jobs, 165 represent unfilled positions; the remaining 206 jobs are currently filled and will be eliminated. The university employs more than 6,200 people statewide.
A complete unit-by-unit breakdown of the budget reductions is available at:
http://suggest.french.wsu.edu/main/BudgetPlan.aspx
“In making these reductions, we have tried to be strategic in preserving academic and research quality. Especially in these difficult budget times, we cannot be all things to all people. We believe these cuts will, to the greatest extent possible, position us to emerge from this economic crisis as a stronger university,” said Elson S. Floyd, president of Washington State University.
“These cuts are painful and difficult for our university community. Excellent employees will lose jobs. Worthwhile programs will be reduced or eliminated. But we have an obligation to balance our budget in the face of unprecedented budget cuts and this plan will allow us to fulfill that requirement,” Floyd said.
He said that the university plans to provide at least a 90-day notice to permanent staff who are given notice of separation.
The release of the preliminary budget will be followed by a month of discussion among the campus community and various stakeholder groups regarding the provisions of the plan. WSU leaders expect to finalize the plan around June 1. The budget will go into effect when the new biennium begins July 1.
Academic programs slated for elimination include the sport management program, the Department of Theatre and Dance, the Department of Community and Rural Sociology and the major in German. Students currently majoring in those fields will be provided access to courses to allow them to complete their degrees, but new students will not be admitted.
Under the budget plan, the IMPACT Center will close, university advertising expenditures will be virtually eliminated, the university’s nine learning centers in communities around the state will close, many Extension offices across Washington will be consolidated, Beasley Coliseum on the Pullman campus will be run on a self-supporting basis without state funding, the travel services and accounts payable offices will be consolidated and general custodial and maintenance services will be reduced.
The budget-cutting process left some areas of the university largely unscathed. The budget of the College of Nursing was not cut, and the university’s contribution to the WWAMI medical education program was not reduced.
The budget for libraries was reduced by only $100,000.
“The nursing and WWAMI programs are central to our collaborative efforts to educate medical professionals, who fill a particularly urgent need in rural areas,” Floyd said. “And the libraries are the backbone of any great research university and they must be adequately funded.”
Floyd and Provost and Executive Vice President Warwick M. Bayly will hold an open forum to discuss the budget plan at noon Monday (May 4) at the Compton Union Building Auditorium on the Pullman campus. The forum will also be Web-streamed to sites on the Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver campuses and will be available on-line.
