USA President says school will dip into reserves to avoid layoffs

Published: Friday, November 05, 2010, 8:00 AM

MOBILE, Ala. - University of South Alabama President Gordon Moulton told faculty Thursday the school will continue to dip into financial reserves to avoid faculty layoffs and salary cuts during the recession.

Moulton, in his annual fall address to faculty, said he appreciates the faculty’s cooperation to "work as a team to do the same job we’ve always done and find ways to do it with less."

Jim Connors, USA’s faculty senate chairman, lauded Moulton and Wayne Davis, USA’s vice president for financial affairs, for the way they have "managed our finances," setting aside reserves when "times were good."

"Surely, it would be nice to give a pay raise to faculty," said Connors, adding that faculty members are glad to have jobs.

Moulton said the school’s state funding over the past few years has seen a cumulative reduction of $40 million a year.

To replace that financial void, he said, the school has been forced to increase tuition. This year, students faced a 14 percent increase in tuition when they returned to school in the fall.

Even with the double-digit tuition increase, Moulton said, USA still "remains very competitive among other Alabama schools."

Citing actions taken by other schools to deal with the recession, Moulton said the University of Southern Mississippi dropped its foreign language department, while Louisiana State University cut some of its foreign language courses and laid off 14 faculty members.

At a time when other schools are dropping courses, laying off faculty and mandating faculty and staff take furlough days, Moulton said USA hasn’t "had to take those types of Draconian measures to sustain our operations."

Moulton said USA’s employment is about 3 percent less than it was three years ago.

"That 3 percent is almost exactly even in all categories in staff, faculty and administration," he told faculty, adding that the administration has kept the number of job losses low through "natural attrition." ?

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