MnSCU system office plans to cut 41 positions
By Amy Dalrymple, The Forum
Cutting 41 positions from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system chancellor’s office should have minimal impact on local campuses, two presidents said Thursday.
MnSCU announced it will eliminate 41 jobs by July to cut its budget by $4.2 million. The cut is in anticipation of a reduction in state funding for fiscal year 2012.
Minnesota State University Moorhead and Minnesota State Community and Technical College are among the 32 colleges in the system.
MSUM President Edna Szymanski, who was on a committee that advised system officials on the changes, said one of the goals was to avoid shifting work to the campuses, which also are making staff cuts.
Nearly half of the 41 cuts will be from the information technology area, said Laura King, vice chancellor for finance and administration.
Another 25 percent comes from academic and student affairs, King said. In addition, the development, government relations and public affairs divisions will merge into a single division.
“Hopefully there will be minimal impact to students,” said MSCTC President Ann Valentine. “We’ll have a leaner organization.”
A legislative audit released earlier this year said MnSCU should improve the efficiency of its administrative office.
King said that audit was used to help develop the reorganization.
About half of the cuts will come through resignations or retirements and the other half will be through layoffs, King said.
About $1 million is expected to be spent on incentives, although that number is tentative, King said. That money will come from the system office’s budget, not from tuition dollars or campus budgets, she said.
The office of the chancellor’s budget for the current fiscal year is $36.7 million, King said. The MnSCU system’s entire budget, including tuition and all other revenue sources, is $1.8 billion.
The chancellor’s office employs 384 people, including presidents of the 32 colleges and universities, whose salaries and benefits are paid through the system office.
In 2003, the chancellor’s office employed 330 people, including the campus presidents.
Szymanski said that the chancellor’s office has received an “undeserved bad rap” about what it spends on administrative costs.
“I don’t think a lot of folks understood that MnSCU’s administrative costs were not way out of whack,” Szymanski said.