Friday, January 23, 2009
Lori Ann Pearson knew the University was making budget cuts. She knew Gov. Kathleen Sebelius had plans to cut funding for higher education by $120 million and she knew some jobs would probably be lost. But she had no idea that hers would be one of them.
“It was an absolute and total surprise,” Pearson said. “We knew budget cuts were coming, but I was just floored.”
Pearson’s was one of 11 positions cut. Seven of them were in the Department of Student Success. The University had planned to fill 110 other positions, which now must remain vacant.
Pearson will retain her position as office manager in the Office of Multicultural Affairs until June. She has worked at the University off and on for the past 20 years. She said University staff members had offered to write her recommendations in order to help her find another position in the University.
“While this is a difficult time, the University is approaching it with a lot of forethought and care for their employees,” said Robert Page Jr., director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
He said the University was required only to give employees 30-45 days’ notice before a layoff, but it notified employees six months before their positions would end to give them time to find a new job.
“The meeting when I had to tell Lori that her job was being cut was the hardest part because it didn’t have anything to do with performance,” Page said.
Lynn Bretz, director of University Communications, said the availability of elective classes might decrease because of the cuts. Some courses usually offered every semester might now be offered only every other semester. The University is also limiting the number of academic conferences it will send faculty to and has started putting such resources as the Oread Newsletter online to save on printing costs.
Bretz said that after this round of cuts, the University would meet the $10.8 million state-mandated budget cut.
“This means everybody has to pull together,” Bretz said. “It’s not ideal, but it’s how you get through tough times.”
— Carnez Williams contributed to the reporting of this story.
— — Edited by Justin Leverett
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Comments
University cuts staff to reduce budget costs
Of course, this is the area that KU would cut positions in first. "Student success" has only been an illusion at KU. Does KU believe in everything they say? No. If they wanted these positions, they could have found donors for support. Heck, they couldn't even find donors to build the building. But $50 m for athletics, no problem. Lori, I wish you the best of luck in getting a new position. Heavens knows that a KU degree doesn't mean a damn thing in the real world and that "staff" recommendations aren't what they say they are. I will personally attest to that.
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