Chancellor Richard L. Byyny today announced a basic outline for the University of Colorado at Boulder's $11 million general fund budget cut to cover revenue shortfalls for fiscal year 2003.
Although not all details have been finalized, the cuts will include elimination of about 30-35 vacant faculty positions, elimination or reclassification of approximately 20-30 vacant staff positions and layoffs of about 20-30 staff members. Byyny called the reductions "significant" and said they represent "a rollback of state tax support to the level of almost four years ago" for CU-Boulder, or about $75 million.
In a letter to be published in the campus Silver and Gold Record Thursday, Byyny said employees to be laid off will be notified, in most cases, by Dec. 13. Employees will then have at least 60 days notice, and in some cases more than 60 days, before the positions are eliminated.
In his letter Byyny said, "To those of you directly affected by these reductions, I want you to know that your contributions to this campus are valued. I regret that economic circumstances have forced us to make these difficult decisions."Ìý
The staffing reductions are part of a longer list of targeted budget cuts calling for, among other cuts, elimination or reduction of funding for about 20 academic centers, discontinuance of two academic programs and elimination of selected low-enrollment elective course sections.
Byyny is hosting an open forum at noon, Dec. 10, in the Glenn Miller Ballroom to address the budget cuts and answer questions.
The CU-Boulder Office of Human Resources is offering an array of support programs to help affected employees prepare for the layoffs including individual counseling, job search resources, resume writing, interviewing assistance, financial counseling and retirement counseling.Ìý
Information on Human Resources support programs will be distributed to all campus faculty and staff members in a campuswide e-memo this week.
In his letter to employees Byyny said, "I certainly understand that these decisions will cause deep feelings of distress and frustration. I assure you that the actions taken are the result of considerable review of all the options presented."
He said the vice chancellors "have tried to propose the use of vacant positions and retirements to minimize impacts on the people of our campus community." But, he said, "some layoffs are unavoidable."
To preserve as much funding as possible for the campus's "central mission" of instruction, budgets for the student affairs, administrative and financial units will be cut by a larger percentage than for academic units. However, the largest dollar amounts will be cut in academic units since most of CU-Boulder's operating budget goes to support academic programs.
Ric Porecca, senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer, said that although past budget shortfalls have been addressed through across-the-board cuts, they also occurred in different economic times in which campus enrollments were down. This year CU-Boulder has its highest enrollment to date of 27,954, making across-the-board cuts unworkable. High student demand may even require growth of some programs while others are trimmed, he said.
Other cuts and additional detail on cuts identified by the administration include:
ß Reductions in "non-mandatory" matches for federal grant proposals
ß Redesign of the faculty PC purchase program
ß Inclusion of all applicable administrative costs into the overhead tax on campus auxiliary units
ß Reductions in operating expenses directly related to program or service reductions
ß Redesign and reduction of printed student recruitment and campus promotional materials.
Campus groups involved in planning for the budget-cutting process included the Council of Deans, the Council of Chairs, the BFA Budget and Planning, and Executive Committees, Staff Council, the Academic Affairs Budget Advisory Committee, the Campus Executive Committee, the student government and others.