With the budget cuts that have been put in place to help reduce the university’s $6.5 million deficit, many departments will experience layoffs or will be receiving different personnel from the bumping process.
President Randy Dunn, Gene Grilli, vice president of Finance and Administration, the presidents of each union — YSU-OAE, YSU-ACE, YSU-APAS and YSU-FOP — and an additional representative from each union comprise the Budget Joint Task Force and are working together to find any way where the university can scrape up additional savings or alternative revenue.
Dunn explained that in order to count any savings or revenue from the process, all parties must agree on the determined action.
Dunn also said that they have decided what the extra funds will go toward.
“We have determined that the first claim on any identified funding is to save the jobs of those union employees impacted by layoffs,” Dunn said.
Dunn said that the task force has met three times already and plan on meeting a few more times before the semester is over.
In a press release from Oct. 18, Annette Burden said if they are to reach their goal, the process needs to be “guided by overall principles.”
“First, while achieving fiscal stability is crucial, doing so must not come at the cost of undermining our ability to deliver the high quality education YSU students expect and deserve,” the press release read. “After all, obtaining the skills, knowledge, training and experience needed to achieve and succeed in the highly competitive global economy is the reason students enroll in the university.”
The other principle included in the press release was that every component of the university’s budget must be subject to examination and discussion by the task force.
Dunn said that he hopes all the negotiations with the task force will be completed before the end of the semester.
“While no hard and fast end date for the JTF work has been set, I think it’s fair to say that we’re all trying to get the budget review done prior to the layoffs taking effect—the first ones of which would be December 3,” Dunn said.