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gateway October 2nd, 2013
THE
Issue No. 8
Volume 104
T H E O F F I C I A L ST U D E N T N E WS PA P E R AT T H E U N I VE R S I T Y O F A L B E RTA
RED U of A loses 121 staff members to voluntary severance Michelle Mark
News editor @michelleamark
I
n the ongoing push to reduce long-term expenditures, the University of Alberta announced Tuesday that 121 academic staff members have been accepted for its Voluntary Severance Program (VSP), including 83 faculty and library positions, and 38 administrative positions. Acting Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Martin Ferguson-Pell told media the loss of these individuals will have a significant impact on the university. But, he said the institution will work to fill the gaps left by staff members by reviewing the management of faculties and administrative portfolios. Most individuals will depart in late June,
2014, leaving the current academic year largely unaffected in terms of classes and programs. Ferguson-Pell said the loss of these staff members will, however, have a longterm effect. “We’re going to miss these people dearly because of the huge contributions that they currently make to the university and the contributions that they’ve made over many, many years,” he said. “We’re looking to see how we can minimize the impact on class size. Also, it has an impact on graduate student supervision. It has an impact on our research capacity, but what we’re looking at is how we can use existing resources ... in order to not have a serious impact on any of those areas.” Of all the faculties, Arts has been hit the hardest, losing 30 staff members, in
comparison with the Faculty of Science, which lost 15. Twelve faculties lost between one and seven individuals, while libraries lost five and administrative units lost 22. Out of 137 academic staff members who had originally applied for the VSP, the small number of individuals rejected for the program were turned down at the faculty level mostly due to the impact the loss would have on program delivery, according to Ferguson-Pell. He added that the majority of those accepted for voluntary severance are in advanced stages of their U of A career. “They’re people that, through their experience, can have a very substantial impact in bringing that experience to the benefit of students,” he said. The VSP was first announced by the administration in mid-August when signals from
the provincial government were indicating that the U of A would be required to balance its budget in two years, rather than the three it had planned for. The university must now cut $84 million in expenditures by the end of the 2014–15 fiscal year. The deadline for academic staff to apply for the buyouts passed on Sept. 16, and individuals were notified on Monday by the university’s deans and vice-presidents. The buyouts present a one-time cost of $16.7 million to the institution, but Ferguson-Pell said long-term savings are roughly anticipated to be approximately $12–14 million. He added that the numbers are only a rough estimate since faculties haven’t yet determined whether positions will be closed or refilled.
PLEASE SEE severance PAGE 5
The Art of Dreaming
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#3LF page 9