Oregon State University administrators are making plans to cut jobs and academic programs because of a projected $19 million shortfall in its operating budget.
Justin Geddes, OSU’s student body president, said OSU’s budget woes have forced a select committee of administrators and department heads to submit details of cost-cutting plans to offset the shortfall.
” This is the most serious thing the University has gone through in a long time,” Geddes, the only student representative of that committee, said.
The 17-member group, known as the President’s Cabinet, will present preliminary findings to OSU faculty and staff Monday. OSU President Paul Risser must approve the proposal by Dec. 15.
OSU administration officials did not return calls to explain the reason for the shortfall, but The Oregonian reported that the administration is blaming a slowing economy and rising costs.
Faculty and staff at the 17,500 student university are anxiously awaiting the cabinet’s findings to see where cuts will be made. “Right now, it is too early to tell,” said Doug Derryberry, president of the OSU branch of the American Association of University Professors. “I am sure they are going to cut jobs, which will be a bad thing. But it is too early to tell.”
The announcement from Corvallis took University of Oregon officials by surprise.
“I was shocked by the report,” said University President Dave Frohnmayer. “I heard an indication (of the shortfall) earlier this week, but I did not think it would be of this dimension.”
Frohnmayer was also quick to point out that the University of Oregon, which has a similar enrollment as OSU, is operating on a balanced budget for the next two years. An extra number of administrators at OSU may have led to the budget difference at the two schools, Frohnmayer said.
“I do not know the entire story at OSU,” he said. “We have a very lean administrative structure compared to what I have heard is more (departments) at OSU.”
Geddes admitted that cutting programs and layers of administration at OSU will be a very difficult task. “We don’t want to take a peanut butter approach to the cuts, we don’t want to cut from everything,” he said, noting cuts could come from reducing layers of administrators and perhaps combining similar academic programs.
Geddes admitted that he will attempt to block any tuition hikes, enrollment caps or funding cuts for diversity programs. Anything else, he said, is fair game. “We will look at every single program and every single department on campus. We will also look at reducing a layer of administrators,” he said.
Adding to OSU’s budget woes is a call by Gov. John Kitzhaber to withhold 2 percent of general funds to all state agencies.