Friday, October 18, 2013

Draft plan calls for eliminating 500 jobs at UT

Posted: 3:12 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, 2013

Draft plan calls for eliminating 500 jobs at UT

American-Statesman Staff
A draft cost-cutting plan at the University of Texas calls for eliminating about 500 jobs, mainly through retirements and other attrition.
Various purchasing, personnel, finance and information technology functions would be consolidated to achieve a total savings of $120 million to $140 million after 10 years.
The Texas State Employees Union, which obtained a copy of the plan and shared it with news reporters, said the plan essentially seeks to run UT “more like a business and less like an affordable, public institution of higher learning.”
The group called on the university to get input from workers who would be affected before moving ahead with the plan.
UT spokesman Gary Susswein confirmed that the document, titled “UT Shared Services Plan” and dated October 2013, is the latest version of the draft plan. He said the university hopes to achieve most of the staff reductions through attrition.
UT has an administrative workforce of about 12,000, according to the plan.
The plan does not call for eliminating faculty jobs.

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This is important because it is focusing on the funding at a university and where this money is going. It can affect many students as well as faculty when it comes to keeping their jobs. 

I do not agree with the consolidation plan that is being proposed. I do agree that this plan is looking to try and run the university as a business and not place of higher learning. It is always all about money, money, money. This is not always a bad thing, but when it comes down to something like this I do not think it is held with the best intentions for the school and the students and faculty that are a part of it. I agree with several of the people who commented on the post when it comes down to where the money they do have is going. It is absolutely ridiculous how much Mac Brown makes as well as how much money is put into the football program. Why don’t they take money from those funds and evenly spread it out, rather than have to take away almost five hundred positions? There are obviously some hidden agendas with this consolidation plan and the priorities of the people making these decisions are obviously not in the right order here. This is just going to cause more hardship for the workers, students and the community as a whole of this university. 

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