Cal State Layoffs Postponed Until June

Despite severe budget shortages, there will be no layoffs of tenured or tenure-track professors at any California State University campus until after June, 1993, Chancellor Barry Munitz vowed Tuesday.

The promise mainly affects San Diego State University, where 146 professors had been targeted for dismissal beginning in January. In addition, Chico State, Fresno State and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo had a smaller number of faculty members threatened with firing, Munitz said Tuesday.

The move will also eliminate the need for Cal State Fullerton to consider laying off some tenured faculty for the spring semester, he said.

Munitz will tap into an academic recovery fund to help cover budget shortfalls at campuses where layoffs were impending. The fund will also help finance adding class sections and temporarily meeting other student needs.

Nonetheless, Munitz said that in addition to granting emergency funds, he will expect campuses to find cuts of their own to make in administrative budgets and other spending areas.

“I will take their budget apart” after receiving a request, Munitz said at the first day of a two-day meeting of CSU trustees in Long Beach. He will then determine how much to give “based on whether it is consistent with (campus) priorities” and other factors, Munitz said.

San Diego State has by far the largest number of professors affected by Munitz’s decision and will require anywhere from $500,000 to $3 million to keep all of them teaching through June, SDSU President Thomas Day has estimated.