University Departments Brace for Layoffs

While the magnitude of the budget cuts is not yet determined, UNC will almost certainly have to make budgets cuts to personnel to help overcome the state's budget deficit.

State legislators are in the midst of plugging a $2 billion hole in the state budget. UNC officials have had difficulty planning for a budget cut because the N.C. General Assembly has yet to provide the University with a concrete budget cut figure and will probably not do so for several weeks.

Administrators have been preparing for a cut anywhere from 5 percent to 10 percent but cannot act until they have the General Assembly's official number, said Bernadette Gray-Little, executive associate provost. In March, UNC administrators asked each college to develop two plans to reduce costs in their department, one based on the assumption of a 5 percent cut and the other based on a 10 percent cut, she said.

Gray-Little said that she believes almost every plan based on a 5 percent cut resulted in both staff layoffs and vacant positions. "I don't imagine we can take a very large cut without personnel loss," Gray-Little said. "They make up such a significant portion of the budget."

The University has not yet implemented any layoffs.

Gray-Little said she believes the decision of which employees to cut is extremely difficult because of the possible impacts on the University.

Employee loss will mean that there will be fewer resources trying to accomplish the same amount of work, she said.

This will result in the elimination of certain classes that are not essential to fulfill graduation requirements in order to preserve a sufficient amount of classes that are graduation requirements, Gray-Little said. Certain class sizes will also have to increase in order to supply the student demand, she said.

Departments have been asked to focus on maintaining the units critical to accomplishing the University's mission to the students, as well as to the state. This means preserving education and research, Gray-Little said.

The departments will decide layoffs according to a number of factors, including seniority, employee's importance to the unit and employee's past performance, she said.

Gary Lloyd, vice chairman of the Employee Forum, said he is still optimistic that layoffs will not be necessary. Lloyd said he believes the administration and the Employee Forum can find ways to cut spending without cutting employees.

Tommy Griffin, chairman of the Employee Forum, has attended budget meetings in order to represent the employee voice, he said.

Larry Alford, deputy UNC librarian, said he believes there will not be any layoffs in Davis Library. The library did not fill many of its vacant positions in anticipation of the upcoming budget cuts and therefore will be able to avoid layoffs by only reducing its operating budget.

Gray-Little said the longer the University has to wait after July 1 -- the beginning of the fiscal year -- for the legislature to complete a budget, the more devastating the cuts will be because administrators would have to make up for lost time. Instead of being able to spread the cuts over 12 months, they would have to compress the cuts into a smaller amount of time, which could translate in harsher cuts and more layoffs, she said.

Provost Robert Shelton said the budget cuts will be a difficult situation to deal with. "There are two words to describe the budget cuts and layoffs: inevitable and painful," said Shelton. "The University's administrators will have to make some difficult decisions."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.