Reductions cut Health Services deep

Greg Burghardt

CMU officially announced the 60 staff affected by layoffs, and Health Services
took the brunt of eliminations and reductions with 19.

Jeanine Ahearn, Health Advocacy Services prevention educator, was notified
June 3 that her position was being eliminated.

“I’m not sure what they’ll do now,” she said. “I
taught alcohol disciplinary classes for students who were referred from Student
Life, did walk-in referrals, the Health Fair and spoke to classes. That position
is now completely eliminated.”

Ahearn has worked for Health Advocacy Services for seven and a half years,
and said it is sad to see all the hard work to get the program going overlooked
to eliminate the position.

“A lot of universities are being hit, and in a perfect world they could
think of another area to cut, because I think what I did was very important
and is important on college campuses,” she said. “I don’t know
what else the university could have done, but we were hit really hard.”

Fifty-four positions were eliminated in all, including 15 which were vacant.
Eleven of the individuals in eliminated positions will bump into other university
positions, while 27 positions, including three that were vacated through the
Retirement Incentive Program, were reduced to less than full time. Thirteen
individuals were formally laid off because their positions were eliminated,
said Mike Silverthorn, Public Relations and Marketing executive director of
news services.

“Everyone understands that the university is facing a budget challenge.
However, it is always difficult to find out your job is being eliminated or
reduced,” he said. “I’m sure it’s difficult for many people.”

Additional layoffs may result following the completion of the bumping process,
he said. In some cases, an employee’s position was eliminated or reduced
at the employee’s request or after the employee voluntarily chose to participate
in the Retirement Incentive Program prior to the notification of elimination
or reduction, Silverthorn said. In other cases, an eligible employee chose
to accept the retirement incentive after being notified.

Silverthorn said a total amount of savings from the eliminations and reductions
is not yet available.

“There is a seven-day lapse with the retirement incentive, where employees
have seven days to change their mind, and the bumping process is still underway,
so we’re not to the final point yet,” he said.

Tom Davis, executive assistant to the president for external relations –
one of the positions eliminated – said CMU is in a difficult situation.

“I was on the Senior Staff Budget Advisory Group, and I was a member
of that group going line by line and cost center by cost center on the budget,”
he said.

Davis said CMU and all universities across the state are dealing with budget
problems.

“I think (the decision) is going to leave people in the president’s
division who were already busy, even busier. Certainly the President’s
Office is going to go on, and go on focused on the president’s priorities;
it is just going to mean they are going to have more work to do,” he said.

Davis said dealing with budgets and making cuts never is a fun experience.

“I’m not focusing on the difficultness of not having the job; rather,
I’m focusing on the opportunities that lie ahead,” he said.

Lisa Tiger, Native American programs director, had her position reduced to
less than full time and said any type of budget reduction isn’t easy.

“I think we’re in a tough time. However, in terms of Native American
Programs, my commitment to Native American people and the work, that’s
not going to change,” she said. “From everything that I’ve heard,
we’re still having the Powwow, and we’re still having Native American
Month.

“I’ll still be there for the students and what they’ll need.”

Todd Williamson’s position as Native American Programs associate director
was one of the positions eliminated, and Tiger said he’ll be missed.

“Losing a position is never a good thing, and obviously the work Todd
(Williamson) did was extremely valuable and helped the office grow,” she
said.

Tiger said the experience of figuring out how to make everything work will
be interesting.

“We need to find out how to do as much as possible with reduced resources,”
she said.

The university’s $21.5-million budget challenge is a result of a proposed
$9-million reduction in state appropriations and increased costs for employee
salaries, health care insurance, utilities and other needs. In response to
the mid-year reduction in CMU’s 2003-04 state appropriation, the university
made reductions of $3.6 million earlier this year.

The application deadline for the Retirement Incentive Program was June 13,
and, to date, 63 people have taken advantage of the program.

“We continue to hammer the message in Lansing of differential cuts,”
Silverthorn said. “We’re hearing good things from the Senate.”