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Janice Klein
Director, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Kendall College
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http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/03/2003031103n.htm

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  Tuesday, March 11, 2003



  U. of Nebraska at Lincoln Plans to Lay Off 8 Tenured
  Professors in Budget Cuts

  By ROBIN WILSON



  The chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln
  announced plans on Monday to eliminate a master's-degree
  program in museum studies and lay off the eight tenured
  faculty members who are affiliated with it.

  The announcement, which came as part of the initial phase of
  the Lincoln campus's response to a $21-million cut in state
  funds, marks the first time in the university's history that
  tenured faculty members will lose their jobs because of
  financial problems. Nebraska also appears to be the first
  major research university to cut faculty positions during the
  current economic downturn.

  "This is not the way I wanted to be nationally visible,"
  Harvey Perlman, Lincoln's chancellor, said in an interview.

  Besides the tenured positions, an additional 47
  non-tenure-track faculty and staff positions are scheduled to
  be cut.

  In an e-mail message informing professors and staff members of
  the proposed reductions, Mr. Perlman said the institution
  would try to find other jobs within the university for the
  eight tenured professors. But he said the institution "must
  face the ugly reality that this will not be possible for
  everyone."

  The cuts announced on Monday total $7.5-million. Mr. Perlman,
  who plans to announce the rest of the reductions on April 1
  and June 18, said: "I see no way that I can respond to
  reductions of the size we're looking at without implicating
  other tenured faculty."

  The positions eliminated in this first round of cuts will
  affect 55 full- and part-time faculty and staff members,
  university officials said. Of those, only the museum-studies
  professors are tenured faculty members. Eliminating the
  professors, the master's program, and the research division of
  the Nebraska State Museum will save the institution
  $1.1-million.

  Before the cuts can take place, the proposal must be reviewed
  by Lincoln's Academic Planning Committee, which includes
  faculty members. The committee will make recommendations to
  the chancellor, but he will make final decisions on the budget
  cuts.

  Mr. Perlman also announced on Monday that the institution had
  started a Faculty and Staff Budget Reduction Impact Fund to
  help those who will be laid off, and said that he and his wife
  had contributed $10,000 to the fund.

  The eight museum-studies professors will lose their jobs a
  year from now. Some of them questioned whether the university
  would violate rules of the American Association of University
  Professors by laying off tenured faculty members without first
  declaring "financial exigency." The university has not made
  such a declaration, and might be leery of doing so because of
  the alarm that might cause among students, parents, and
  donors.

  The AAUP defines exigency as a financial situation that
  threatens the survival of the institution. According to AAUP
  rules, institutions can eliminate programs for academic
  reasons and lay off the faculty members affiliated with them.
  But if an institution cuts a program for financial reasons and
  lays off its professors, it must first have declared exigency.

  Mr. Perlman said the university had not violated AAUP
  guidelines. He said the museum-studies program would be
  eliminated "for educational purposes" and added, "I am
  protecting and preserving the quality of the education our
  students receive and the programs that remain by eliminating
  some programs rather than dropping everyone across the board.
  I think that's the highest educational purpose."

  Hugh H. Genoways, a professor of museum studies, described
  himself in an interview as "one of the eight tenured faculty
  who are getting whacked." He is 63 years old and was not
  planning to retire for a few more years. "If you've looked at
  your TIAA-CREF, it's not the time to be thinking about
  retirement," he said, referring to the organization that
  manages pension funds for many academics.

  Margaret R. Bolick, another tenured professor who will lose
  her job, has been at Nebraska since 1978. She said the
  university had told professors that even if it could find them
  new positions, those posts would be off the tenure track.

  The museum-studies program enrolls about 50 graduate students,
  20 of whom will finish their degrees this semester. The
  remainder "are up the creek," said Ms. Bolick, since they will
  not be finished with their degrees by the time the program is
  closed.

  In other cuts announced on Monday, the university said that it
  would:




  Save $1.8-million by eliminating the subsidy to Nebraska
  veterinary students who earn their degrees through a
  cooperative program with Kansas State University.


  Eliminate $837,333 for the Nebraska Forest Service, which
  operates community forest programs and helps with wildfire
  control and pest management. Ten "faculty-equivalent
  positions" will be cut, although none of those have tenure or
  tenure-track status. Two tenured professors in the service
  will be reassigned full time to the School of Natural Resource
  Sciences and retain their tenured status.


  Cut $750,000 from the student-affairs office, a move that
  would drastically reduce the availability of
  student-counseling services at the university.





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Copyright 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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