University Cuts Teaching Jobs in Rhode Island
Posted on March 25, 2010
Brown University is cutting 60 Rhode Island teaching jobs by June to help close a $30 million projected budget gap for the next fiscal year after endowment losses.
But the jobs are non-faculty related.
Browns roughly 3,000 non-faculty staff members were informed of the job cuts in an e-mail sent Monday. The individuals who will lose their jobs will be told over the next few weeks.
Those who get laid off at the end of June will receive severance packages equal to four weeks of compensation for each year they worked at Brown; health insurance coverage for the duration of severance pay, and COBRA coverage thereafter; and assistance in finding a new job at Brown or elsewhere.
Employees whose jobs are eliminated can apply for other jobs at Brown, the university in Providence, Rhode Island, said today in a statement. The university previously announced it cut $35 million from its fiscal 2010 budget and fired 31 workers.
Browns endowment, valued at $2.04 billion on June 30, is the smallest in the Ivy League, a group of eight top ranked universities in the northeastern U.S. The funds value fell 27 percent in the year ended June 30. The university, which has about 3,000 non-faculty employees, said 139 employees accepted early retirement.
These are enormously challenging times for our entire community, Provost David Kertzer said in a statement. The economic downturn has forced the university to review and rethink the way we operate in order to reduce budget deficits while maintaining academic excellence in teaching and research.
The university last month announced undergraduate tuition, room, board and fees will increase 4.5 percent to $51,360 for the 2010-11 school year. Financial aid for undergraduates will increase 6.5 percent to $81.5 million.
The positions that will be targeted for elimination this time were identified as part of a review of the universitys operations undertaken last year by an ad hoc committee of Brown staff and students.
The committees recommendations for $12 million in budget cuts and $2 million in additional revenue were included in the $787 million budget the schools governing body approved last month.
The value of Browns endowment dropped 27 percent to $2.02 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
Founded in 1764, Brown alumni include Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and banking analyst Meredith Whitney. As of October 2009, 8,261 undergraduate, graduate and medical students were enrolled at Brown, according to the university.
