After months of anticipation Pepperdine announced Monday that it was laying off 50 university employees. President Andrew K. Benton said he expected the workforce reductions part of an effort to reduce the university’s expenses and increase efficiency in the face of global economic troubles to be the last of fiscal year 2010.
In addition the university will not fill about 50 positions vacated by staff members retiring or moving to other jobs.
Most employees whose jobs were cut were informed Friday Feb. 27. Some will remain in their positions for up to two months to facilitate a smooth transition and all will receive wages and benefits until May 1.
Full and part-time staff positions were cut with an emphasis on cutting administrative costs according to Benton.
“I don’t know what your faith tradition leads you to do at a time like this Benton wrote in an e-mail to all faculty and staff. If you find it appropriate I hope you will take time – even now – to offer a quiet prayer for those who have been so painfully and sadly impacted by the economy and the decisions we have made.”
Officials did not specify which departments were hardest hit or how many positions were eliminated at each of the five schools citing respect for those affected.
“The demographic impact is broad but in my view largely irrelevant since these are individual people about whom we care a great deal wrote Benton in an e-mail to the Graphic. They are not merely categories and statistics.”
After the market downturn of fall 2008 Pepperdine began to reduce its budget but it soon became apparent that deeper cuts would be necessary. In a memo distributed Jan. 5 Benton warned that layoffs would be announced March 1 after working out which positions to eliminate and the details of a severance plan.
Pepperdine is offering employees $3000 in medical expenses a severance package based on years of service and a “job coach” to help them find new employment.
“The university is reaching out to make the transition as smooth and even helpful as possible said Jerry Derloshon, director of public relations and news. I’ve been involved in three corporate downsizings and Pepperdine has handled it the best. … It’s to the credit of the university to be out there talking and really searching for the best approach to this.”
Pepperdine is far from the only school to face budget difficulties. The Yale Daily News reported Monday that the Ivy League school may fire 300 members of its staff. Arizona State University (ASU) which already eliminated 550 staff positions may cut as many as 1000 more for a total of 13 percent of its workforce according to the Arizona Republic. Stateline.org published by the Pew Center on the States reports that ASU and Utah State University will force all of their employees to take unpaid leaves of a week or more.
“Hardly a day passes that I do not receive new information about what our colleagues in higher education across the nation are having to do to respond to this economic recession Benton wrote to the Graphic. Most are making cuts deeper than ours but I take no comfort in that. Pepperdine is about people and we have lost some great people.”
Pepperdine has already taken significant steps to curb its spending. The university no longer funds the Spring Semester in Thailand program non-essential travel or class parties. Friday Feb. 27 the university announced the end of men’s track and women’s swimming and diving. In addition Benton Provost Daryl Tippens and others have volunteered for a 10 percent reduction in their salaries.
Wages account for 56 percent of the university’s total expenses.