USU employment immobilized by hiring freeze
Utah State University is stuck in a temporary hiring freeze until the economy warms up.
Provost Stan L. Albrecht said it all started this spring when USU suffered three rounds of budget cuts, with the threat of a fourth one.
The president, provost and vice president of Administrative Services joined together to find a solution.
The Personnel Services Web page, http://personnel.usu.edu/hiringfreeze.html, documented President Kermit L. Hall’s response following a two-day, special legislative session July 11.
“In light of the fact that 84 percent of our total budget is tied up in salary dollars, we must act with prudence as we address the impact of nearly $9 million in total budget cuts over the past year alone,” he said.
Albrecht said, “Our goal is to avoid impacting people’s lives, and if Utah State University faces another budget cut, USU could possibly loose 300 positions.”
This would not only affect the students, but also the professors and their families. So, they issued what is called a “hard” hiring freeze, meaning they would not hire anyone.
According to the Web page, the freeze lasted until July 31.
It then became an “intelligent” freeze, meaning the administration would hire staff, but only after the vice president of Administrative Services had reviewed the request. The person hired would have to be aware of and accept the possibility of another budget cut.
Gerry Giordano, dean of the College of Education, said, “Requests were viewed on a case-by-case basis.”
Albrecht said, “The freezes are necessary, even though they are just a precautionary action.”
If the economy improves, threat of another budget cut will decline, allowing the administration to hire more personnel.
Giordano said, “This has been extremely difficult for the college.”
This doesn’t affect the students unless they are looking for jobs on campus. The administration doesn’t have the extra money to hire students.
“Many positions, such as technology personnel that support and help the professors, were cut, so it’s not a direct impact on students. It is more of an indirect impact on the students,” he said. “It is not the same critical level, but it still affects the students.”
Until the economy picks up, USU will continue to take precautionary actions to help those teaching and learning here.
-emilywalker@cc.usu.edu