NAU Plans Job Cuts

Northern Arizona University said it will cut 45 jobs and close four satellite campuses after its state funding for fiscal 2009 was cut by $21 million as part of January’s budget-balancing bill.

The reduction was part of the overall $141 million in funding for higher education. NAU president John Haeger said the $21 million reduction is about 13% of the school’s annual budget.

“We have been working hard to minimize the number of layoffs, but we cannot escape the reality that 83% of our budget goes to salaries and benefits,” Haeger said.

The positions being eliminated account for about 2% of NAU’s workforce. Haeger said no faculty members would lose their jobs. Most of the staff cuts are at the system’s main campus in Flagstaff.

The university posted a record number of enrollments in the spring semester, with 22,507 students.

NAU’s athletic department will lose $465,000 in state aid with the budget cuts, but Haeger said a football game will be scheduled with the University of Mississippi that should bring in $400,000 after expenses.

Arizona State University laid off 285 employees and declined to renew contracts with more than 200 untenured faculty members as a result of the budget cuts. The University of Arizona laid off 120 employees and will not fill another 500 vacant positions.

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