The University of Oregon announced its next round of layoffs Monday, following months of speculation.
The school said it will cut another 60 employees, and eliminate 59 vacant positions. That's in addition to the layoffs that were announced earlier this year.
UO didn't immediately share which specific employees would be affected. But it said those individuals will be notified about their employment status this week.
Ahead of Monday's announcement, faculty had raised alarms that the cuts could mean the elimination of whole subjects, and layoffs for tenured faculty—a move that one professor argued would discredit UO as a research institution.
However, University Provost Christopher Long told KLCC Monday that no tenured or tenure-track faculty will be laid off, and no degree programs will be eliminated.
"In making these decisions, we've prioritized the university's academic mission and student success," said Long.
The layoffs are part of the university’s plan to eliminate $29 million from its budget to address a “structural deficit.” In the recent rounds of layoffs, the university says it's cutting 117 filled positions, including 42 officers of administration, 49 classified employees, and 20 career faculty. In total, 176 positions will be eliminated.
"Not every college had the same percentage of cuts, because we were taking into consideration the various number of student credit hours, majors that different colleges had," said Long. "We also were taking into consideration opportunities for revenue generation different colleges had."
Moving forward, Long said the university will need to continue to work to address the budgetary gaps it's seeing.
"The volatility of the financial situation in higher education is not changing," said Long. "We're going to still have to be vigilant in working together with our faculty, with our academic and administrative leaders."
The university's count of positions being cut doesn't include student workers who weren't reappointed to their positions for this fall.
Unions react
Kate Mills, the president of the faculty union United Academics of UO, said she believes recent protests and advocacy stopped the university from cutting tenured faculty and programs.
"This is a powerful demonstration of collective action at work," said Mills. "I am so grateful for our faculty who mobilized over the last few months and brought pressure to bear on the administration, and to our legislators and the political leaders who helped us convince the administration to change course."
Mills said she was still dismayed at the cuts to other faculty, and will try to help remaining staff adjust to increased workloads.
Jennifer Smith, the president of UO's classified employees union, said there are fewer cuts than she expected.
But she said she's been frustrated with what she calls a rushed layoff process, and believes UO's administration should have taken on a greater share of the cuts.
"Upper administration are ultimately responsible for our budget, and I'd like to see some accountability," said Smith.
University responds to ‘financial exigency’ claim
United Academics of UO previously challenged the layoffs, arguing the university's deficit qualifies as "financial exigency." Under the union's contract, faculty can't be eliminated because of such a situation.
UO’s Chief Financial Officer Jamie Moffitt told KLCC Monday that "financial exigency" would mean the university couldn't pay its immediate operational responsibilities—which is different, she argued, than the longer-term budgetary issues that the university is facing.
"If we do not take action, we eventually would be in financial exigency in many years, once we run through all of our one-time carry-forward funds," said Moffitt.
The union's bargaining agreement doesn’t define financial exigency. The American Association of University Professors described it in 2013 as “a severe financial crisis that fundamentally compromises the academic integrity of the institution as a whole and that cannot be alleviated by less drastic means."
KLCC asked Mills from United Academics of UO about whether the faculty would continue to pursue their grievance. Mills said the union needed to learn more details before making further decisions.
