Faculty, staff cuts still undetermined

Faculty seemed to accept the administration's budget proposals for next year yesterday, even though the proposals include a reduction of 300 faculty and staff positions. The proposals, presented to faculty in a special meeting yesterday afternoon, prompted professors to call for grass-roots advocacy in an attempt to sway state legislators to reinstate funding. The University's budget problems are a direct result of Governor Robert Casey's proposal to cut $18.6 million in state funding to the University. President Sheldon Hackney yesterday described the new budget policies as a "careful and judicious" strategy to protect the University's academic core. But, without a reinstatement of state funding, the proposed cuts will halt the creation and expansion of several faculty programs and may even include faculty layoffs. Administrators said yesterday they did not know how drastic faculty and staff cuts would be, saying the reduction would be achieved through a combination of attrition, retirement, reassignment and layoffs. Administrators said they had not yet determined how many layoffs would be necessary or where layoffs would occur. Other cuts, amounting to $2.9 million, from the Provost's Subvention Fund could hurt faculty programs. The proposal eliminates plans for the Social Science Research Institute outlined in the University's five year plan, freezes further committments to the Trustees' Professor Program and eliminates additional funding that would help individual schools grant raises to faculty as part of promotions and merit awards. However, faculty yesterday appeared more interested in attempting to reverse Casey's decision than in protesting the cost-cutting proposals the University will enact if the state budget passes in its current form. During the faculty meeting and yesterday's University Council session, Microbiology Professor Emeritus Robert Davies, past chair of the Faculty Senate, urged faculty to start a letter writing campaign asking state legislators to renew funding. However, at the University Council meeting, City Planning Professor Anthony Tomazinis cautioned against allowing faculty salary increases to fall below the rate of inflation, pointing out that it is faculty work itself that helps bring in University funding. Several Council members also said they were concerned the University could eventually lose research funding. Council members said it takes competitive salaries to draw top-notch researchers to the University, who in turn attract research funding. If salaries do not keep up with inflation, researchers may be less willing to come to or remain at the University. Provost Michael Aiken, who helped present the proposed cuts yesterday, indicated after the Council session that he had expected more feedback from faculty during the budget presentations. "I expected more discussion and I can't really explain why there wasn't more discussion," Aiken said. Faculty leaders said the lack of debate may indicate professors' willingness to work with the administration to reverse the threatened cut in state funds. "They have my vote of confidence," Faculty Senate Chair Almarin Phillips said yesterday. He said Senate leaders have been in close contact with the administration throughout the budget development process. Statistics Chairperson David Hildebrand, who will become Faculty Senate chair-elect in May, indicated that the faculty as a whole seem willing to work with the administration. "Certainly it would be a lot healthier if we could work together to restore these cuts," Hildebrand said. Hildebrand described a bleak budget picture for the University if the state funding is lost, and joked that he is not expecting a 60% pay raise next year. "It's still not going to be much fun for the next year or two," Hildebrand added. "It's going to be rough unless the cuts get restored."

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