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Chancellor Holden Thorp speaks at the March 2 meeting sponsored by the Employee Forum.
Community meeting
focuses on
budget situation,
University
layoff policy
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Nearly 400 staff members and students showed up at the Great Hall in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union on Monday for a community meeting with Chancellor Holden Thorp and top administrators.
The 90-minute session, which was organized and sponsored by the Employee Forum, was called “University Budget 101,” but in reality no one knows yet what next year’s budget will look like.
It was that singular point – that it is too early to be able to offer definitive answers – that Thorp and other speakers emphasized as they discussed the situation and fielded questions.
The forum invited Thorp, Dick Mann, vice chancellor for finance and administration, and Brenda Malone, associate vice chancellor for human resources, to address the group. Vicki Bradley, senior director of employment, classification and compensation, and Matt Brody, assistant vice chancellor for human resources, also presented a layoff overview for SPA employees and EPA non-faculty employees, respectively.
Emerging themes
Some consistent themes emerged, however, including Thorp’s emphasis that Carolina administrators wanted to help ease the financial burden on faculty and staff by undergoing their fair share of budget cuts – taking cuts at least as large as those the rest of the campus will have to take.
Another theme was the lengths that vice chancellors and deans were prepared to go to trim their budgets wherever possible to prevent layoffs and to assist employees who were laid off. (See related budget story about the Employee Assistance Fund.)
“I’m convinced that Carolina has what it takes to get through this crisis,” Thorp said. “We have people here who have been though it before.”
Thorp told audience members he shared their frustration about the lingering uncertainty over what might happen.
There are reasons to be worried, he said, but there also are reasons to be hopeful.
For instance, the UNC system is likely to experience smaller budget cuts than other state agencies. At this point, Gov. Beverly Perdue has asked the UNC system to prepare for cuts of 7 percent this year, while many other state agencies have been asked to prepare for a 9 percent cut.
Both Thorp and Mann said the state would not have a clear picture of revenues until April 15 after all state tax returns have been submitted.
It is not yet altogether clear what impact the federal stimulus package might have on the University. A great deal of work remains to be done both in Washington D.C., and Raleigh before it will be known how much money the stimulus package might bring to Carolina, or how fast, Thorp said.
One certainty is that there will be more money for federally sponsored research – money that would likely create staff support positions to help manage contracts and grants. The stimulus package should also include money for “shovel-ready” construction projects, but it is not clear if any here will be funded.
Malone |
Thorp spoke at length about the possible use of temporary furloughs as a way to reduce layoffs, but the General Assembly has not authorized the legislation to make that possible, he said. (See related Q&A with Malone.)
Campuswide perspective
Thorp said he felt a great responsibility in addressing this crisis and described this period as the most important period of his life so far. How well he handles the crisis, he added, could be the most important thing he does as chancellor, because it will affect not only how well the University weathers the crisis, but also how it will be positioned to achieve new heights once the crisis has passed.
Several students stood in the back of the room holding placards supporting staff members keeping their jobs, and Thorp fielded their questions after he addressed employees’ concerns.
One student asked Thorp about the implications of a study of University operations now under way by Bain & Company, a global business consulting firm.
Thorp said he approved the privately funded study to get an objective campuswide look at how the University currently operates and how it can streamline operations and better stretch available resources to fulfill its mission.
The study will supplement input he has already received from individual units about ways to reduce costs and will shed light on enhancing efficiency from a University-wide perspective in areas such as information technology, purchasing and energy.
An oversight committee consisting of Thorp, Mann and Elmira Mangum, senior associate provost, will meet with Employee Forum Chair Tommy Griffin and Faculty Chair Joe Templeton to get their input on the study.
The student asked Thorp to guarantee that “privatization,” the practice of converting functions handled by public employees to a private firm to cut expenses, would not be considered.
Thorp refused to make such a guarantee, but said it was possible that the Bain & Company study could generate ideas about using privatization in limited, selective ways that would make sense financially and could be accepted by the larger University community.
Thorp emphasized the University’s commitment to transparency throughout the process.
Both the University’s agreement with Bain & Company and the scope of work have been posted on the Carolina Budget Information Web page. Also posted are Thorp’s budget-related e-mails to campus and the University’s submissions used to develop its response to the 2009-10 state budget reduction planning scenarios for 3 percent, 5 percent and 7 percent cuts (see related budget story). Refer to universityrelations.unc.edu/budget/ for these documents.
Getting through tough times
Griffin ended the session by thanking Thorp and the other panel members for participating and Forum Vice Chair Brenda Denzler for organizing the event.
“It is a tough situation, but don’t leave here thinking you are going to be laid of tomorrow,” Griffin said. “I’ve been here 36 years and these are horrible times, but don’t leave here thinking nobody cares about you because we do care.”
Griffin reminded employees that the University and the country had been through tough times before – and gotten through them. And it will again, he said.
For specific information from the presentations, refer to http://hr.unc.edu/guides/0302-communitymtg_final.pdf. |
