Lincoln University plans to cut 48 jobs

Curators must approve plan during June 8 board meeting

A Lincoln University student crosses the bridge from Page Library on Lincoln's campus on April 30, 2016.
A Lincoln University student crosses the bridge from Page Library on Lincoln's campus on April 30, 2016.

If Lincoln University's curators approve the plan when they meet June 8, LU will cut 48 job positions effective with the business year that begins July 1 and reduce all remaining employees' pay by a half-percent.

That's a 50-cent reduction on each $100 earned - or as President Kevin Rome said in a memo Tuesday to LU's faculty and staff, a $200 annual cut for someone making $40,000 a year or approximately $16.67 per month.

The job and pay reductions are part of Lincoln's response to a $3.8 million reduction in state funding for the 2017-18 business year.

In a statement issued by University Relations late Monday afternoon, the school said it also will be using about $500,000 from its fund balance, "but this is not a permanent fix."

The LU release said the 48 jobs affected included 32.5 staff position and 15.5 faculty positions.

"Since it is a personnel matter, the university will not release the names of specific employees," LU spokeswoman Misty Young told the News Tribune, adding none of the job cuts are from the administrative level.

"In comparison to six years ago, the administration is not substantially larger," she explained. "In late 2013, the university began a reorganization that reduced the number of vice president level positions from four to one.

"As additional programs were added to meet the specific unique needs of the university and more importantly the needs of our students, some positions were either restructured or added to address those needs."

In his memo about the pay decrease to Lincoln's faculty and staff, Rome said: "Every decision that was made to balance the upcoming year's budget was met with much difficulty, but those that affect our faculty and staff were the most bothersome.

"With the understanding that each of you provides an invaluable service to creating the collegiate experiences our students seek and deserve, these decisions were not made lightly or without weighing many other options."

However, math teacher Stephanie Clark, the incoming chair of LU's Faculty Senate, told the News Tribune: "The decision at the state level to withhold funding from Lincoln University is disappointing.

"What is even more disappointing is that the university's administration is choosing to balance the budget on the backs of the most underpaid faculty and staff in the state and the nation."

She said the Faculty Senate's executive board "never had a seat at the table in the decision making, despite the lip service to shared governance" - a university policy that gives faculty, staff and students "a role in the governance of the institution" and that says LU's Faculty Senate "shall serve as a major advisory body to the president."

Individual faculty members have been part of the budget review process over the past few months - but not the Faculty Senate as an organization.

Clark said: "The instability of the university's handling of the budget, combined with the inability to quell the fears of the faculty and staff, have caused a chain reaction of resignations (that) will have a negative effect on our students' success and the quality of instruction for years to come."

The separate Staff Council's chairman was not available for a comment for this story.

Young said the final decision on budget actions belongs to the curators, "but these decisions are necessary to create the budget as it will be proposed."

Monday's news release also cited other cost-saving measures, including "elimination of a network administration and programming contract; non-renewal of a recruitment software contract; delaying future property purchases; restructuring academic advising; reducing advertising spending; combining the Offices of the Registrar and Recruitment and New Student Engagement."

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EARLIER COVERAGE

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Lincoln University in Jefferson City plans to cut 48 jobs and reduce salaries as it tries to respond to a budget deficit.

The school, which is facing a $3.8 million deficit in its fiscal 2018 budget, announced Monday that 32.5 staff and 15.5 faculty positions will be cut.

KRCG reports a statement from the school said the jobs services it provides to students will continue knowing that the workforce is already stretched too thin.

The university also will reduce salaries, with employees campus-wide taking a .5 percent pay cut, effective at the beginning of the new fiscal year.

Other cost-saving measures will include eliminating a network administration and programming contract, non-renewal of a recruitment software contract, delaying property purchases and restructuring academic advising.