2 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2002
University announces job,program cuts
By Lauren Beatty Kansan staff writer
Twenty-two University of Kansas employees received their walking papers earlier this week, and more job cuts may be on the way.
The University faces a $7.1 million budget shortfall for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. In addition to the 22 employees who will lose their jobs at the end of the next fiscal year, 32 vacant positions will also be cut next fall.
The cuts affect the Kansas Geological Survey, the Museum of Anthropology and other research units.
Lee Allison, state geologist and director of the survey, said the survey was hit especially hard by the budget cuts because they were funded by the state but operated by the University. That means the survey and the museum can't share the money that will come to the University from tuition increases.
But the University does get to decide how the survey's budget will be cut. The University chose to eliminate the mathematical geology program because its research did not primarily focus on Kansas geology, Allison said.
Six employees of the mathematical program will lose their jobs in June 2003. Because they are giving the employees such an advanced notice, Allison hopes
they can find other jobs at the University.
"It doesn't look good," he said. "Within the next few months things may be worse. We are well-positioned to prepare for more cuts by holding five empty positions, cutting operating costs - we have some flexibility. This has been very disturbing and painful for all of us involved."
At the Museum of Anthropology in Spooner Hall, five employees will lose their jobs, including curator Brad Logan. The exhibition space will also close.
The cuts on the Lawrence campus are the second wave of bad news this year. In late March, the University of Kansas Medical Center was first to announce job cuts.
Kevin Boatright, associate executive vice chancellor for University Relations, said up to 90 positions would be eliminated, including 20 faculty positions at the Med Center. It was during that time Chancellor Robert Hemenway first told a senate committee that up to 175 positions on the Lawrence campus could be eliminated.
All schools and departments at the University are preparing for the cuts. James K. Gentry, dean of journalism, said his school was asked to cut $26,383 from its budget. He said the school would save money by not filling vacant positions left by faculty who died or quit. He said so far the cuts had not affected the school.
Although no journalism faculty had been laid off, not hiring new faculty members leaves a void in the schools' curriculum. Gentry said.
"All of us are concerned about the future. Anytime you reduce services, that's an adverse effect. If more students are put into classes that impacts the quality of your education. All of us will feel the pain."
Angela Lumpkin dean of education
"We'd like to offer more electives," he said. "But our focus now is on getting you the basics."
Other deans are just as worried as about what lies ahead. Angela Lumpkin, dean of education, said the school would have to be thrifty with its money by not filling vacant positions, reducing the number of hours employees could work and possibly closing computer labs on the weekends. She said she didn't know exactly how much money the school of education would be required to cut.
"All of us are concerned about the
future," she said. "Anytime you reduce services, that's an adverse effect. If more students are put into classes that impacts the quality of your education. All of us will feel the pain."
No education faculty members have been laid off from the Lawrence campus yet. Lumpkin said the School of Education opted to continue its search for faculty, which made its budget tighter.
At the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in which 54 percent of the student body was enrolled last year, searches for new faculty were called off, but Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett, dean of liberal arts and sciences, said she was expecting to have to do more than that.
"We were asked to cut one percent of our budget," she said. "We were prepared to cut three percent."
The total budget for the college is $63 million. If there are more cuts, the dean's office will make all budget decisions, not individual departments. McCluskey-Fawcett said the last straw would be laying off faculty.
"We would have to be in dire straits," she said. "But if cuts continue, there might not be anything left to cut. We're down to the bare bones now as it is."
Contact Beatty at ibeatty@kansan.com. This story was edited by Jason Royer.
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