University of Calgary cutting 200 jobs

I tweeted about this and lots of people were asking for the full text of the mail sent to all UofC staff letting them know they were going to be reducing the workforce by 200 people. I know it is not politics, arts or marketing related but I figured my blog was the best way to make the text available.

Subject: [All-staff-l] Budget Update from the President

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Budget Update

July 14, 2009

We are now about three months into the 2009-2010 fiscal year. This period has allowed us to appreciate fully our financial situation at the end of the 2008-2009 fiscal year and to evaluate the reasonableness of some of the assumptions we made in constructing the 2009-2010 budget.

We ended 2008-2009 with a $14.3-million deficit. In fact, because of the financial prudence exhibited by the University community, we actually spent $4.5 million less in university operations in 2008-2009 than we anticipated. So, where did the deficit come from? It stemmed primarily from the fact that we continued to fund the various activities supported by the University endowments—things like undergraduate and graduate scholarships and bursaries, salary support for professors, equipment and facilities upkeep—even though, as a result of poor market performance, the return on endowment funds did not provide sufficient monies to underwrite these expenses. This resulted in an additional $19 million charge on our operating fund.

What does this mean for our 2009-2010 budgets, the fiscal year we are currently in? As we have indicated in other budget messages, the first charge on our 2009-2010 budget is the $14.3 million needed to cover the previous year’s deficit. In addition, though, the 2009-2010 budget will also be adversely affected by the increase in the deficit in the Universities Academic Pension Plan (UAPP), itself a victim of poor market performance. This will result in the U of C having an additional $8 million expense to cover the UAPP liability in 2009-2010.

One way that we are mitigating these financial hits, as indicated in previous messages, is that the University is increasing enrolment in a planned and strategic way. Hitting our enrolment targets is key to our financial sustainability and will also help off-set the anticipated zero-percent base increases from the Province of Alberta in the years ahead. Notwithstanding the enrolment increase, the University is in a situation where we must make difficult decisions to ensure that we produce a balanced budget in 2009-2010 and into the future—something mandated by the province and the Board of Governors.

To balance the budget and also to continue to live up to the commitment to fund envelope carryovers, we are pursuing several strategic initiatives. First, we have reduced the 2009-2010 budget allocations by an average of three percent for all units and Faculties. This means continuing budget adjustments by Deans and other budget managers, but this is the reality of the dynamics of budgeting and resource allocation.

Second, as we have indicated in previous messages, a significant portion of the University budget, approximately 60 percent, pays for the salaries and benefits of our employees. Given this reality, there is simply no possibility of ensuring that a balanced budget, once achieved, is sustainable unless we reduce our number of support and academic staff. I anticipate that we will need to reduce our staff complement by up to 200 people by the fall of this year. There is likely to be additional staff and faculty reductions in the future. The number is not known now, but will depend on a whole set of factors such as future government grants, tuition levels, endowment performance and salary and benefit settlements.

No one makes a decision like this lightly, even knowing that the staff complement at the U of C is greater on a per student basis than our comparator G13 universities. The University will reduce its staff complement in as transparent and supportive manner as possible. Senior leadership, as well as your deans, department heads and managers, will share information as it becomes available and work to ensure that you are all informed about the reductions and the plans for your particular units and Faculties.

Third, we are vigorously pursuing the iS² Project to improve our support service delivery and to reduce operating expenses strategically with as little impact on operations as possible. Projects like iS²allow us to make differential, strategic choices rather than just applying an across the board cost reduction strategy. This project will help the University improve its business processes and internal controls and also reduce expenditures through initiatives such as standardization of service levels and preferred buying arrangements.

I wish that the budget news was better, but it is not. You will continue to hear from us regularly about initiatives—such as iS², capital projects like the co-gen facility that reduce utility costs and strategic enrolment increases—that reduce University costs and increase revenue, and in some cases allow us to deliver the University’s mission more efficiently than we did before.

Thanks for reading.

Harvey P. Weingarten

President

I don't work at UofC but have several friends that do (including my wife) I hope this doesn't affect any of them. But then again, knowing how Fine Arts has already been gutted in anticipation for the merging of the Arts faculties the majority of my friends probably find this as old news and not likely to affect them any further.

PS - And don't even go there - my wife did not send me this email text. She was in a meeting. And I doubt she would have even if she could have. She's prim and proper and works hard for the U. I cajoled someone else. Besides, they sent an email to all staff. If that is not making something public I don't know what is. Plus I'm not sure if this is even really new news. It may just be the first I'm hearing about it.

Extra security to catch you cheating on your exam?

Does anything suck more than studying for an exam for two weeks only to arrive to find out it has been rescheduled? Being shot would suck more, I guess. Good call by University of Calgary security today.

Early Sunday morning there was a drive-by shooting at the residential home of a University of Calgary student. Several shots were fired but there were no injuries. The information provided to the University today suggested that the perpetrator or perpetrators had threatened to come to campus looking for the student. As a precaution, the University requested that City Police attend campus. Campus Security was also increased. Two exams were postponed and will be rescheduled.

The University of Calgary takes all threats to students, faculty and staff seriously. The campus community is advised to take normal precautions and advise Campus Security if they see any unusual activity or have any concerns at 220-5333.

After having two Rob Anders posts in a row drama wins over comedy.

Losing our faculties: Whatever. Students can afford higher tutition, right?

So as I said in a previous post the University of Calgary’s tuition is set to raise again this month. That will make 17 years of tuition hikes of more than twice the rate of inflation.

But here’s something to make you even more angry, turn green and destroy all the clothes you are wearing save your handsome purple pants:

For the first time in anyone’s memory anywhere the Students’ Union and Graduate Student Association have decided they will not lead protests. Instead they will sit idly on their hands and let the maximum legally allowed tuition hike of 6.3 percent go unchallenged.

WTF?!?

How can they say they are representing the best interests of their students if they don’t even oppose a tuition hike? If they were to do nothing else in office except one thing, wouldn’t you think that would be it?

Instead they say they will work with the Board of Governors to make sure the newly collected money is spent on – according to undergraduate president Julie Bogle – “better quality education”.

Uh-huh… And what exactly do you think they’ve been spending the previous increases on? Everything the University board does is to improve the education of students!!! I dare you to name one thing they spent money on that did not at least indirectly improve the quality of the education at UofC. Go ahead… No, no; I’ll wait.

…

Okay while those folks are off on that wild goose chase I’ll tell you what I think should happen: do BOTH. Crazy idea, huh?

Why can’t they be arguing for more directly student related spending AND protesting their tookus off? One doesn’t preclude the other! They need to get off their lazy asses and get a movement going. Make rational arguments in the boardroom AND show you have the student body behind you at a rally. Show them the impact tuition is having on students AND carry placards. Suggest viable alternatives AND have a tent city representing where student are going to have to live if something isn’t done NOW.

Either Julie Bogle and David Colletto and their vice presidents do this or they should probably get ready for the student body to start protesting them. Students may be apathetic most of the time but I’m not convinced they can take this kind of a slap in the face from their own ELECTED representatives. They may not be able to vote out the UofC Board of Governors but they certainly can fire them. And permanently harm any future political aspirations they may have in the process.

Losing our faculties: University is costing students more. Again.

It will soon be 17 years of fee hikes of more than twice the rate of inflation. Can you imagine if the City did that to your property taxes? What would you do if the federal government did that to your income tax rate? We’d probably all get outrageously angry and oust the government as soon an election was available. I doubt a government could even go for more than 4 years of raising a fee of any kind in this manner before they were turfed from office.

But this is exactly what is happening at the University of Calgary (and most other post secondary institutions in Alberta) as their Board of Governors will once again raise tuition next month by the maximum legally allowed by the provincial government for the 17^th straight year.

Think about that for a second… 17 years in a row.

Over that time tuition has gone from slightly less than $1,000 a year to slightly more than $5,000 per year. That’s an increase of more than 500% in the time it took a mom and dad’s new baby to start thinking about what s/he would like to take at university and do for the rest of their lives. How can a parent save for something that so wildly increases in price in such a short period of time? No wonder we have students graduating from our universities and upon notice of having to pay back their student loans they promptly become homeless. Even though they have a good steady job they love.

It’s enough to make you go insane. Insane because there are none of the usually expected checks and balances we find in other systems. Students and citizens can’t vote for who is on a university board. Heck, when they renewed the UofC president’s contract the university didn’t even follow their own rules by having a formal committee with students sitting on it. (That’s a story for another day though. Let’s stay focused here, okay? Eyes on the prize.)

I guarantee our universities will continue this trend unless WE help them stop. Yes, us. You and me. It is the only way. And because of that I fear our students may face another 17 years of tuition hikes. Sigh.

Breaking ground downtown: A new Canadian trend?

In an earlier post I talked about Vancouver's newly announced $71 million plans to update their downtown east side into an arts campus with state of the art performance spaces and the like.

I meant to mention this at the time, but it just so happens that one day earlier Montreal made a similar $120 million announcement. This time the announcement is all bout revamping their city's arts district - a one square kilometre area that will be redubbed Le Quartier des Spectacles. The space will include the Place des Arts and be home to almost every festival Montreal is famous for including Just for Laughs and the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Wow. Can you imagine having something like that in your city? The area is almost guaranteed to become the heartbeat of the city. With buskers, acts and stage shows ongoing there will always be something to see in that area of town. Plus with the influx of people visiting you know the street level shops will be bustling, restaurants will be busy and everyone in Montreal and around the world will be talking about that spot. Certainly that's Montreal's vision. (Heck, the "Lighting Plan" alone is worthy of the world's attention.)

Apparently the people behind Evergreen in Toronto were listening at the same time too because earlier today they announced a $55 million project to redesign the city's old Don Valley Brick Works into a world-class green space, complete with heritage buildings and arts programs. The new Evergreen Brick Works will be an urban space unlike anything seen in any other city.

These three projects are the kind of visionary thinking we need to see more of in Canada. Especially Calgary.

So, I reiterate my impatience to see more movement on the Athabasca University, Calgary Board of Education, SAIT Polytechnic, University of Calgary, and University of Lethbridge sponsored Urban Campus Initiative being proposed for Calgary's own downtown east side. It's going to take a lot of work to get this project going, but the time is now - before the boom slows to the point the project stalls.

Certainly this is what the world is looking for, and we had best provide it if we want to consider ourselves world-class.

I don't think $38 million invested in Calgary's park system is going to do it. (Even though it is a much deserved way to honour our veterans.)

Breaking ground downtown: "extensive community engagement" no one's heard about

As an update to Wednesday's post about Calgary's Urban Campus Initiative I read in the latest issue of U Magazine, U of C's alumni magazine, where there is a little footnote under their Capital Plan Update page saying:

Following the proposal of a business plan to the province, the Urban Campus Partnership has entered into a phase of extensive community engagement to ensure that all stakeholders have an opportunity to participate in advancing this project.

That's it. That's the UofC's latest public word on this massive project. "Extensive community engagement." I haven't heard any word on what this will actually be but it sounds like it'll be so big we should have heard something by now. That or the project is stalled somewhere in the process.

Breaking ground downtown: A Tale of Two Cities

Well this sure sounds familiar.

While Simon Fraser University, Vancouver and the British Columbia government are putting their money where their mouths are by undertaking a massive downtown arts education campus, Calgary's similar Urban Campus Initiative appears to have stalled.

The two projects seem similar except there appears to be more of an arts focus in Vancouver and the Calgary project looks like it leans more in the direction of focusing on community. The goals appear to be very much the same however with both having heavy community and arts angles.

So why has the SFU project suddenly picked up steam while the UofC/Bow Valley College/SAIT/University of Lethbridge/Athabasca University/Calgary Board of Education project doesn't look like its even updated its website since June 2006? (No seriously, this isn't a rhetorical question. Not like: isn't involving so many red-tape heavy institutions just asking for trouble?)

Why has such a great project pulled up lame before even getting into the start blocks? According to the CBC report on the Vancouver project the lynch-pin was the Government of British Columbia's investment. Meantime, the Urban Campus website states Calgary city council agreed to turn the land over if the Alberta provincial government invested. And...? Is this where the hold up is?

I guess it looks like it will take some serious digging to find out what's going on here in Cowtown.