Bloomington Herald-Times articles

IU cutting 47 jobs on campus; Move is necessary to pay for staff, faculty pay raises, keep top faculty here, officials say, citing tight budget, pressure to limit tuition increases
By Steve Hinnefeld
May 4, 2006

Indiana University is cutting 47 jobs on the Bloomington campus to balance its budget and pay for salary and benefit increases, IU officials said.

A majority of the jobs will be eliminated through attrition, but there will be some layoffs, Michael McRobbie, the Bloomington interim provost, told IU trustees today.

"No one welcomes having to make these decisions," he said.

Staff will get pay raises of between 2.5 percent and 3 percent. For Bloomington faculty, salary increases will average 4 percent — boosted by $1.4 million allocated to keep top faculty from leaving for other schools.

"These would be our very best faculty: top research performers, national academies members, people we can't afford to lose," McRobbie said.

IU officials said the cuts are brought on by reductions in state funding and political pressure to limit tuition increases. Undergraduate tuition and fees for IU Bloomington will rise 4.9 percent this year. Graduate and professional students face steeper increases.

IU officials explained the $2.32 billion university budget for 2006-07 Thursday to the trustees' finance and audit committee. Trustees are expected to approve it at their business meeting today in the Indiana Memorial Union.

Judy Palmer, the IU vice president for finance, said it's a tight budget that forces campuses to find savings and in some cases to rely on reserves.

"We've drawn the safety net a little tighter," she said.

McRobbie said results at IU Bloomington will include:

• More classes will be taught by part-time faculty.

• Maintenance spending will be cut by $400,000 at a time when many buildings are showing their age.

• An adult fitness program is being eliminated, saving $200,000.

• The Law School froze spending for admissions and career services.

• The School of Education shelved plans for a P-16 education center.

• The Optometry School cut its equipment budget.

Administrators said they're trying to manage the budget without hurting research and teaching, but trustees said across-the-board cuts will work for only so long. Trustee Tom Reilly said IU may have to look at eliminating programs — as well as increasing tuition.

"You're talking about double-digit tuition increases no matter what you do, but that's not all you do," he said.

Pat Shoulders, another trustee, said state officials shouldn't expect universities to fuel the knowledge economy without money. "We ought to flat-line their expectations," he said.

But Reilly said government leaders "really think we're on the fat side" and are likely to cut deeper in the budget the Legislature approves in 2007.

"The footnote is, the party's over after this budget," he said.

Early start of garage meeting called illegal
by Steve Hinnefeld
May 5, 2006

Buff Brown left work early Thursday to hear the Indiana University trustees talk about building a parking garage south of campus.

But not early enough. The trustees, without giving notice, started the meeting of their facilities committee at least a half-hour earlier than scheduled.

By the time Brown arrived, the panel had approved the garage at the corner of Atwater and Fess avenues. The full board is scheduled to vote today.

Brown, an opponent of project, was miffed.

"I think that they have an obligation to the public to notify them of these decisions and to make the decisions when they say they will," he said.

IU officials said the trustees finished an earlier meeting sooner than expected, and board president Steve Ferguson convened the facilities committee to save some time. The meeting was posted to start at 4:15 p.m. It apparently started by 3:45.

Steve Key, counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association, said what the trustees did violated the state Open Door Law, which requires that the time and place of public meetings be posted 48 hours in advance.

The trustees don't routinely take public comment, and garage opponents wouldn't have been allowed to speak. But Key said that doesn't matter.

"The idea is, you give people an opportunity to observe and record" the meeting, he said.

Key said people could challenge the changed meeting time in court. They could ask a judge to order IU to not violate the law again. They could even argue that any action resulting from the meeting - such as final approval today of the parking garage - is illegal.

IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said that if the meeting wasn't legal, it was an innocent mistake.

"It certainly was inadvertent," he said. "It only happened because the board was trying to work a whole lot of things into one day, including a bus tour of some university facilities."

Trustees discussed the garage and heard objections from Elm Heights residents in November, when they approved its design. The $10.9 million, 5 1/2-level structure will provide space for 560 vehicles and IU Parking Operations offices. Officials want to start construction this summer.

Trustees told to spend in order to double minority students


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