Hundreds of Part-Time SDSU Teachers Face Lay-Offs as Result of Budget Crisis

Several hundred part-time faculty members at San Diego State University--perhaps 20% or more--will probably be laid off as the university struggles with a $19-million shortfall, or 10% cut, in the money needed to maintain existing services next fall, President Thomas Day said Tuesday.

In a letter to the whole faculty, Day said the budget picture has worsened in the past two months because of the state’s severe financial woes. The state is as much as $12.6 billion in the red.

“This means that some layoffs may occur,” Day said. “I don’t see how we can avoid them completely.”

University administrators said later that several hundred part-time lecturers, many of whom have taught large required freshman- and sophomore-level courses for years, will not be rehired next fall. “These cuts will mean a loss in the range of classroom presentations we can offer, but we will be able to maintain quality in the presentations which are retained,” Day said.

Day said his strategy is to protect tenured and tenure-track faculty members as well as graduate teaching assistant positions to shield graduate programs from attrition. The university has 2,309 academic positions, but administrators were not able to provide a breakdown late Tuesday between tenured- and tenure-track positions and part-time lecturer positions.

Day said the university is now preparing its fall 1991 course schedule, which will be cut 10% from last fall. “Students returning, and new students entering in the fall, will have fewer classes available because of the cuts in budget and staff. . . . There is no way that we can downsize the university to 90% of this year’s budget without a resulting drop in classes available.”

Day said core services, including programs to increase ethnic diversity on the campus, will be protected.

“The various major divisions of the university are preparing ideas on how to live with a budget 10%-11% less than this year’s,” he said. “It must be a budget with which we can deliver fewer services perhaps, but those we deliver to be as high quality as possible.”