UNC Departments Must Cut $12 Million

But Chancellor James Moeser said the recent cuts will have only a modest impact on UNC. "The cuts were less than we feared," he said. "The legislature really protected the University."

State legislators finalized the state budget late last month -- almost three months into the fiscal year -- with UNC's final blow coming to about 3 percent, a number significantly smaller than what University administrators anticipated.

The cuts have forced officials across the University to make difficult decisions about what posts to leave vacant and what classes to cancel. "I don't think there's any area that's not impacted," Moeser said.

He added that the libraries were the only part of the University that was spared from cuts.

Provost Robert Shelton doled out the cuts to all areas of the University, but individual units will determine for themselves where to trim dollars.

Risa Palm, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said most departments were trying to absorb the college's $2.9 million cut mostly by eliminating their non-personnel budgets, which include things like paper and supplies.

"We're probably taking one-third to one-half of that cut in faculty salary money," she said.

The Department of English , which is facing a 3.5 percent cut, is offering fewer class sections with lecturers, turning off its copy machines and stopping its long-distance telephone service, said James Thompson, the department's chairman.

But non-personnel costs only make up less than 2 percent of the department's budget, so it has had to lay off three people who had contracts, Thompson said. He said that the department was able to rehire two faculty who were on leave without pay but that they might be laid off if the University faces midyear cuts.

"What looks like a not-so-terrible cut at the moment is going to get worse," he said.

Provost Robert Shelton said he expects additional cuts because the legislature left some funding in the state budget unaccounted for. He said UNC's share of midyear cuts could be close to $1 million.

But Shelton said he hopes the staff layoffs that occurred at the beginning of the fiscal year will be the last. "I'm hopeful through the early preparation and making the tough decisions in May, we won't have additional layoffs," he said.

Some deans have begun searches for new faculty because funding for enrollment increases provided some money for them, Shelton said. "I think we will be seeing very selective hiring," he said.

Despite the cuts, faculty salaries will still see on average a 1.2 percent increase, Shelton said. He said that the money comes from the $300 campus-based tuition increase approved by the legislature and that deans and department chairmen might choose to use other funds to augment the raise.

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.