Ohio State to Lay Off 119 Workers, Cut Hundreds of PositionsCOLUMBUS, Ohio
Ohio State University said last month it is laying off 119 employees and cutting hundreds of other positions because of cuts in state funding.
The university says the layoffs are needed because of a $28 million reduction it received after a state budget cut in December.
The reductions, including 467 unfilled positions, will take place over the next six months, said William J. Shkurti, OSU’s senior vice president for business and finance. The cuts will affect custodians, residence and dining hall employees, groundskeepers, administrative assistants, extension agents and others. No faculty members were laid off, although 95 unfilled professors’ positions will be cut.
Ed Ray, executive vice president and provost, said some of the savings will help the university meet a goal of raising faculty salaries to better recruit and retain top professors.
“We cannot continue to progress as an institution without competitive compensation for our faculty and staff, who received only negligible increases last year,” Ray says.
The university’s academic plan calls for increasing faculty salaries by 4.5 percent annually over the next three years, beginning July 1.
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