Cut it out: Administrative cuts at UNC-system schools are important ?nancially and organizationally

It looks like some administrators in the UNC system are going home. In fact, about 900 of them are.

But these are necessary cuts.

They’ve been a long time coming, according to UNC-system President Erskine Bowles.

Bowles stated in an e-mail to UNC-system chancellors on Aug. 17 that universities in the North Carolina system would need to focus more on thinning the herd at the top of the ladder.

Our university is indicative of the types of cuts needed.

All it takes is one look at Bain & Company’s chart of our administrative staff — which The Daily Tar Heel printed on Aug. 26 — to see that change was needed.

Streamlining the bureaucracy by eliminating unneeded positions will make it more effective and efficient.

Layoffs are rarely good — but this trimming allows schools to focus on more important issues.

For example, the money saved through these cuts will be used to fund academics.

It’s hard to argue against that logic.

Universities are places of higher learning. That priority has to be placed above administrative positions.

It’s also hard to argue against these job cuts.

Unemployment isn’t a positive thing, but neither is clinging to unnecessary jobs.

In a budget crisis, everyone has to make sacrifices.

For example, students at UNC-system schools are shouldering a $200 tuition increase — funds that will go back to the state, rather than staying in the universities.

Here at UNC, class sizes are getting bigger, and departments and personnel are adapting to multi-million dollar budget cuts. The next sacrifice had to be at the top.

Efficiency is increasingly important as the state continues to deal with the economic downturn.

A reorganization certainly seems due.

Now it can be said that the UNC system is fully doing its part to weather the storm.

Everyone is bearing the burden.