University could lay off 68 positions to save $25M

Portland State is looking to save $25 million from its budget this upcoming school year, according to a preliminary plan recently issued by President Wim Wiewel.

From top to bottom, university administration is in the process of trimming the fat in its budget, even though there is not much to begin with.

As a human resources employee bluntly put it, “Everything is already down to the bare bone. We can barely sustain any further cuts.” The employee wished to remain anonymous for fear of their job being affected.

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Roy Koch said the university is also looking to eliminate 68 positions, some of which are already vacant positions that will not be refilled.

Most of the layoffs would occur on the administrative side, totaling 37 positions. Full-time faculty could lose five positions and adjunct faculty could stand to lose seven positions.

A further breakdown shows the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences may lose the most, with seven staff and three faculty layoffs.

The 68-person layoff would generate a savings of about $4.8 million for the university.

According to the preliminary budget plan, a large portion of the $25 million PSU is looking to save will come from the tuition increase paid for by students, an estimated $11.9 million.

Portland State is also expecting an increase of 9.4 percent in student enrollment in the fall, which helps generate the majority of the revenue for the university through tuition.

Koch said student dollars go a long way for PSU.

“We are hoping to use revenue that is generated from the increase in student enrollment this year to try to mitigate some of the layoffs,” Koch said. “It’s our hope to use the enrollment funding to buy back some of these positions.”

Vice President of the Office of Finance and Administration Lindsay Desrochers said this is the most volatile fiscal year for the university and an increase in student enrollment would help the situation.

“Fifteen years ago, two-thirds of our money came from the state, and one-third from the students,” Desrochers said. “Today, it’s the opposite.”

Administrative higher-ups like Desrochers and Koch have already shown fiscal leadership by taking a 4.6 percent salary reduction. Koch said what remains to be seen is the salary reduction for faculty, which he says is still in negotiation.

Budget effect on faculty

Phil Lesch, the executive director for the Portland State chapter of the American Association of University Professors, a collective bargaining unit for higher-ed faculty, said their main concern right now is salary equity.

“The latest news that we’re trying to understand is the fact that we’re not being treated equally any longer,” Lesch said. “The University of Oregon and Oregon State University are not having any salary cuts or furlough days at all.”

At the same time that employees at PSU and other universities are taking salary cuts and furlough days, Lesch said the decision of UO and OSU to do otherwise would tip the balance and could force PSU to take on more salary cuts to make up for the difference.

At a collective bargaining meeting on Aug. 31, the AAUP addressed the issue, stating that the inequity in salary cuts suggests that the Oregon University System is trying to force PSU to subsidize for other institutions.
The AAUP also believes that OUS is protecting the University of Oregon and Oregon State University faculties from budget cuts while weakening bargaining efforts at other universities.

Lesch said that doing so would mean taking a step backward from the progress the AAUP has achieved in their last negotiation.

“It also makes it more difficult for us to recruit faculty in the national circuit,” Lesch said. “The pay cut and the furlough days undermine the university’s ability to attract the kind of talent that it says it wants in order to be compared to University of Oregon and Oregon State.”

OSU, UO not affecting PSU’s decisions

Desrochers said any talk of PSU subsidizing for other institutions is incorrect.

“Each university has different financial circumstances, they have different tuition, private resources, their endowments are different,” Desrochers said. “So to say that it’s all the same is not wise.”

Oregon State has not made any decisions regarding salary reductions for their employees, but even if they had, it would make no difference to PSU, said Koch.

“The budget we have is the same amount, whether we cut salaries or not,” Koch said. “It’s not a matter of if OSU cuts salary, we have to cut salary. What they do doesn’t affect our budget. It may affect our faculty perception, however.”