USM seeks cuts to avoid faculty layoffs
The University of Southern Maine has tasked faculty leadership with finding $1.26 million in cuts to avoid the layoffs of a dozen faculty members.
The Portland Press Herald reported the Faculty Senate must submit its plan for alternative cuts by May 31 to avoid the layoffs, as part of the university’s efforts to slash $14 million from its $140 million budget for the next fiscal year. The budget gap is part of a larger $36 million gap facing the University of Maine System. College officials have attributed the gap to decreasing enrollment, freezes in tuition and flat funding from the state.
USM President Theodora Kalikow said in an email to faculty and staff that a majority of the $14 million in cuts will be covered with $4.5 million in savings from more than two dozen staff layoffs, deferred maintenance costs and unfilled positions, and $7 million in emergency funds from the $15 million UMaine System reserve account.
Three academic programs and up to 35 staff positions are still on the chopping block under Kalikow’s proposal. The programs include geosciences, American and New England Studies and the arts and humanities program at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn campus.
USM administration had abandoned its original plan in March to lay off as many as 50 staff and faculty after finding new sources of savings. The original plan triggered a series of protests by students, faculty and staff who questioned the administration’s financial priorities.
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