The UNCG cuts
Time was when universities were considered recession-proof.
Not anymore.
UNCG has announced that it will cut possibly 100 or more faculty and staff jobs.
Similar moves should follow at N.C. A&T.
Everybody is cutting, including Harvard and Yale.
The first to go at A&T and UNCG probably will be part-timers -- not good news for people like me, but a logical place to start.
The issue of cuts in the UNC system has sparked some unsually pointed words from UNC President Erskine Bowles, who disagrees with proposed cuts in Gov. Bev Perdue's budget.
Bowles described as "ludicrous" Perdue's suggestions that the UNC system could get by with eliminating just 73 jobs.
Perdue responded that Bowles' words were unduly harsh.
But if the impending UNCG cuts are any indication, he was right.
Bowles favors furloughs as one way to minimize job losses. Perdue disagrees.
But the two are still talking about it. Good.
This is going to be hard and painful, given the importance of strong public universities to the state's economy.
There is a delicate balance between saving in the present and investing for the future.
Comments (2)
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There's no probably about it: part-time adjuncts and full-time lecturers (most of them on 1-year contracts) will be the first to go. Tenure-line faculty will teach bigger courses as a consequence. Almost all of the cuts will come from salaries, since that's where the vast bulk of the money is spent.
Your reporting on this has been good, but it hasn't really gotten into how non-permanent faculty fit in to a modern university. Although there are drawbacks for both faculty and students, the system offers many advantages, too. I would predict a dip in retention rates coming out of this; large lecture classes for freshmen are often disorienting and alienating, especially for first-generation students.
Posted on March 27, 2009 9:59 AM
In the interest of full disclosure, I have been one of those adjunct instructors, for nearly seven years at UNCG and another 18 at A&T.
I agree with your point. One disadvantage of adjuncts is that they typically are not as available to students outside of class as is someone who is on campus for his or her full work day.
Among the pluses are their ability to bring up-to-the-minute workplace insights into the classroom, as I hope I do with journalism students.
Another is that they provide cheap labor: teaching and professional expertise at relatively inexpensive prices, without benefits.
I love it all the same.
Posted on March 27, 2009 1:50 PM