 "Photo: Tamir Kalifa/The Daily Texan")
To address issues related to the layoffs in the McCombs School of Business, Dean Thomas Gilligan gave a brief overview of the effects the cuts will have on remaining employees and fielded questions at a town hall meeting Tuesday.
Sixteen staff members were given their 90-day-notice by their immediate supervisors Monday — cuts that were first announced in September, but were not finalized until the beginning of the month. The audience at the meeting, made up primarily of McCombs staff and faculty, raised concerns about the readjusted workloads in the college and the potential for a future round of layoffs.
In his presentation, the dean explained why the cuts were necessary in order for the college to move forward in a competitive market.
Employees were not laid off because their contributions were insubstantial, Gilligan said.
“We simply didn’t have the budget to support these positions while moving forward with our initiatives,” Gilligan said.
A total of 24 positions were eliminated from the school. Three staff members retired, five resigned and 16 were laid off.
Andrew Smith, marketing and admissions coordinator in the Texas Executive MBA Program, was one of the 16 staff members who was laid off. He has worked for the school since January 2004, and previously worked for McCombs from 1998 until 2000.
He said he knew he would be one of the people to get laid off when he heard about the cuts in September.
“There are currently more people working in marketing admissions than needed,” Smith said. “From the point of view of the administration, I can’t really disagree with the staff cuts.”
Although Smith is unsure about what he will do after his position is eliminated, he said he appreciated the notice.
“I appreciate it not just on a personal level, but it also reflects well on the MBA program as a whole,” Smith said.
Gilligan reiterated that counseling will be available for staff members who were laid off as well as for those who remain at the school.
“Some of the pressure resulting from these layoffs may come in a psychological sense from the feeling of no longer having some friend within your work groups,” Gilligan said. “But we are also in an environment where we still have the same level of work to do across a smaller level of people. The goal is not to work everyone to death.”
The budget reallocations may also have an impact on the number of teaching assistants within the school, as well as the ability of faculty to travel for seminars or research.
“At this time, I don’t anticipate another round of layoffs,” Gilligan said. “Having said that, it is always hard to tell in this economic climate.”
The dean also said that trimming some services might be necessary to move forward as a college.
“We should not have the rule that we need to satisfy every student demand,” Gilligan said.
Gilligan encouraged the staff to find ways to cut costs within their own departments, and post notifications informing the students why the services are no longer available.
“I am not interested in cutting for the sake of cutting,” Gilligan said. “I am interested in cutting to ultimately improve the services we offer at the University.”
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