Chancellor Will Plead for Smaller Budget Cuts

Layoffs of tenured faculty at San Diego State University and other California State University campuses might be avoided if CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz can persuade state legislators that projected cuts will debilitate the system.

That’s the hope that Munitz will carry with him in talks in Sacramento and elsewhere during the next two weeks, he said in a recent interview.

Munitz wants to persuade state lawmakers to hold cuts to the CSU budget to 6%--not the 8% or more now projected, to agree to a 40% increase in student fees and to approve an enhanced retirement package for senior professors that would give them up to five years’ credit for service in computing pensions.

“We’ll have to send out the layoff notices and identify programs that have to be cut,” Munitz said.

“But, if we could meet those benchmarks (set out above) and also get Proposition 153 passed” to fund new construction, then “I say we could avoid layoffs for a year and hopefully give the state time to recover from its budget crisis.”

Munitz defended San Diego State President Tom Day, under fire for the severe cuts he announced last week to cope with an $11.5-million deficit on his own campus.

“He is taking heat in a totally unjustified way,” Munitz said of Day.

“Other campuses are or will be doing the same things, but campuses such as San Luis Obispo or Chico State get less media attention.

“Tom Day is as caring a president as we have had, but, because he has been tougher in forcing people to be realistic about the budget, he is being perceived as being outspoken and difficult.

“In point of fact, he is just being sensible. His planning started earlier, and his skepticisms turned out to be more accurate than others who were optimistic.”