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UNL will eliminate 30 staff, close open faculty positions in latest round of cuts - Lincoln Journal Star

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The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will close open faculty positions, cut 30 staff positions and move other positions off state funding as part of its plan to close a $12 million budget deficit this year.

UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett asked the Academic Planning Committee earlier this month to find savings across nine broad categories that avoid closing academic programs, though he anticipates the state’s land-grant campus could be forced to examine those areas next.

"As this process continues to unfold, all those engaged in this difficult work recognize its significant effect on UNL faculty, students, and staff," Bennett said in a statement. "The university has no choice but to make difficult decisions to address a structural budget deficit."

On Tuesday, about a week and a half after the areas targeted for cuts were announced, UNL published a more detailed plan for reducing a structural budget deficit created through several years of declining enrollment and an increased cost of doing business.

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Roughly 20% of the proposed cuts ($2.4 million) will come from eliminating unfilled positions on the faculty, including not filling vacancies after they come open this year, either through planned separations or retirements.

In the College of Arts and Sciences, which is responsible for teaching roughly 40% of all the credit hours at UNL in classes ranging from poetry to physics, the cuts mean reducing the hiring budget for faculty by more than $636,000.

At an open forum on Nov. 16, Dean Mark Button said the College of Arts and Sciences has reduced its state-aided budget by 14%, or roughly $9.7 million, since 2019.

The repeated cuts have resulted in a 19% drop in tenure-track faculty and a 15% loss in professors of practice at the college, he said.

“That’s what makes these decisions increasingly difficult,” Button told more than 50 faculty who attended the forum.

The proposed cuts will also reduce operating budgets by more than $138,000, the budget for associate deans by $145,000, and the amount of money available for summer instruction by nearly $200,000.

Button said the proposed cuts run counter to the goal expressed by the NU Board of Regents, President Ted Carter, and Bennett of UNL rejoining the Association of American Universities, a group of research universities.

UNL was a member of the prestigious organization until 2011, when it was voted out after falling short in several metrics. University leaders have announced their intention to boost research spending, invest in faculty hires and take other steps to earn an invite back into the group.

“You don’t cut your way into the AAU,” Button told more than 50 faculty members at the open forum, “but that’s essentially what we’re doing.”

As part of the cuts across the broader university, UNL will eliminate nine full-time staff positions that are currently filled to realize a savings of more than $900,000.

Those cuts include two operational efficiency staff members, three from UNL’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, two staff members and a part-time administrative position from the Undergraduate Education, and one and half positions from administration/academic.

The university also is planning to close 21 full-time positions that are currently vacant, and move 23 full-time positions to alternative funding sources that do not use state appropriations or tuition revenue in order to meet its budget saving goals.

UNL is also proposing to reduce its funding for part-time and temporary lecturers by nearly $516,000, and moving graduate student pools to alternative funding in order to save $275,000.

The proposals are being evaluated by the Academic Planning Committee, which will offer recommended changes in the coming weeks. Students, faculty and staff have been asked to provide feedback on the budget reductions before Dec. 1.

"We are proceeding in a manner that allows us to continue to fulfill our mission as Nebraska's land-grant and flagship university and remains consistent with our status as a Carnegie R1 institution," Bennett said.

Button told faculty in his college that while the cuts were difficult, that administrators were focused on preserving the core academic strength and preserving ways it could grow in the future.

He said the College of Arts and Sciences was also protecting critical support for students, its research enterprise, and increasing efficiency but maintaining its focus on diversity.

“My message today is we will get through this reduction, and we will get through it together,” Button said.

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Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS

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