I spoke last night with a coworker who told me that similar budget cuts have been implemented in the state university system in a crisis. Since the legislature won't want to be saddled with responsibility for implementing the governor's sweeping demands, they will be reticent as before to pass anything during the 120 day legislative session, thus necessitating, at additional future expense, a special session to deal with education cuts. ON top of that, they can't fund anything else until they fund education, so everyone else will be hanging on a whisp of a prayer until sometime later this fall. He told me that last time, layoffs came just before Christmas, but by then people had been drawing paychecks for six months of the biennium.
As opposed to what we originally heard, they froze all tenure, meaning that some of the professors who are not held in high regard are now vulnerable to layoffs. Furthermore, if the governor called for a state of emergency, tenure would be meaningless, because you can lay off one tenured professor and hire two full time adjuncts for the same price, getting twice as much work at the same expense. This professor is worried because he's in the 45-60 demographic where they like to lay people off, but I would like to hope for him and myself that they would recognize who gets the job done and retain people who carry the workload.
Ultimately, the dean apparently carries a lot of weight. I hope she likes me.
Ultimately, the dean apparently carries a lot of weight. I hope she likes me.
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