UI prepares to abolish 80 positions

BOISE – The University of Idaho is preparing to eliminate 80 faculty and staff positions as it braces for big budget cuts next year.

That would wipe out 5 percent of the university’s faculty and staff positions, acting President Steven Daley-Laursen told state lawmakers Monday, saying that’s something “we are prepared to consider.” All cuts would be vacant positions; the university already has a hiring freeze.

The announcement came as legislative budget writers began a painful week of hearings on education budgets, all of which face potential cuts next year, including public schools. State Board of Education President Milford Terrell kicked off the hearings by urging lawmakers to view education as the key to Idaho’s recovery from the current recession.

“We must recognize the critical role education plays in economic recovery,” Terrell told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. “If we are to find our way to better days, education must and will play a major role.”

The UI last week announced it will eliminate or consolidate 41 degree programs as the university tries to refocus on its strengths. Among the programs scheduled for elimination are master’s degrees in physical education, undergraduate degrees in physics, a master of science in architecture and a bachelor of arts in German. Daley-Laursen said they’re not popular programs. “We have only 55 applications now on the table for entrance of new students” among the 41 combined, he said.

Daley-Laursen said he’s also planning a 75 percent cut in state funds for travel, a $2.3 million cut in university operating expenses and a half-million-dollar cut in capital outlay.

Already, the university has cut $5 million from its budget this year. For next year, Gov. Butch Otter is recommending an additional reduction that would make next year’s state appropriation to UI $8.8 million less than the original budget for this year.

Idaho’s colleges and universities have warned that they may seek student fee increases for the coming year as big as 10 percent.

Among the other casualties of the budget crunch is UI’s plan to open a third-year law school program in Boise next year. “Unfortunately, the current budget situation did not make it possible for the governor to recommend funding for this expansion of our law program,” Daley-Laursen said.

University of Idaho law school Dean Don Burnett said he hopes to raise private funds to move forward with at least some elements of the Boise expansion next year. The overall, long-term plan is for full three-year law school programs both in Boise and at the university’s main campus in Moscow.

Daley-Laursen stressed UI’s achievements despite the difficult economic times, including rising enrollment that includes a record freshman class this year, a 24 percent increase in first-year graduate student enrollment, enrolling 82 percent of Idaho’s 130 National Merit Scholars this year, and attracting $92 million for research in 2008.

“As of this, our 120th year, we have awarded well over 100,000 degrees, more degrees each year than any other Idaho college or university,” he said.

Questioned by Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, about plans for an “education corridor” in North Idaho, Daley-Laursen said talks are proceeding among the UI, Lewis-Clark State College and North Idaho College.

“We are talking about a new joint interdisciplinary degree at the undergraduate level that pulls our programs together,” he said. Only once that’s settled – “form follows function,” Daley-Laursen said – will the three institutions move on to figuring out building plans.

He said he hopes the $420,800 appropriation lawmakers approved last year for initial planning and predesign work will remain available. “We will be coming to use that for that design,” Daley-Laursen told lawmakers.