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Janice Klein
Director, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Kendall College
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This article from The Chronicle of Higher Education
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This article is available online at this address:
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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http://chronicle.com
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Copyright 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
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