Tenured Faculty Spared in Projected CSUN Layoffs : Education: Officials predict the need to trim 450 other jobs to absorb an expected 7% cut in state funding.

Cal State Northridge officials predict that there will be no layoffs of tenured or tenure-track professors in the coming school year, but estimate that they will eliminate nearly 450 other jobs, including 311 lecturers, according to a budget report submitted Wednesday to California State University trustees.

The estimate is based on an anticipated 7% reduction in state funds for the 1993-94 school year, which begins in July, said Donald Bianchi, CSUN’s vice president for academic affairs.

CSUN Faculty Senate President Louise Lewis said the report is a relief to many professors who feared that the state’s lingering recession would, for the first time, force the layoff of tenured faculty members.

“If we can hold to this, that would be great,” Lewis said. “But people shouldn’t get comfortable yet.”

Cutbacks of more than 10% from state higher education budgets will probably result in layoffs of ten ured or tenure-track professors at CSUN, school officials said.

CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson has angered many faculty members by refusing demands to rule out such layoffs to balance the school’s $100-million general fund budget.

The CSUN preliminary budget report shows a total of 44 layoffs, including 17 retired professors who now teach part time, as well as 24 non-teaching employees.

Another 404 employees who have no permanent standing with the university would simply lose their jobs because of the budget cuts.

So far, no decision has been made on whose jobs will be cut, Bianchi said.

Teams of faculty members and administrators will meet during the next two months to think of ways to reduce academic expenses, including elimination and consolidation of departments.

Wilson will make the final decision on layoffs or program cuts.

The loss of more than 300 part- and full-time instructors is likely to worsen class shortages for CSUN students, who for years have complained of the difficulty of getting a seat in required courses. Relatively few students graduate in four years, in part because of crowding.

Budget cuts last year prompted school officials to cut more than 800 fall classes and another 300 in the spring semester.

Approval by the Legislature last year of an early retirement package helped CSUN avoid layoffs in the fall semester, school officials said. More than 100 CSUN instructors took early retirement, the most of any school in the CSU system.

The current layoff estimates, which were required of all 20 CSU campuses, are intended to show trustees the impact of Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposed 1993-94 budget. A revised estimate is due from the campuses April 1.

The Legislature, which is supposed to approve the state’s final budget by June 30, last year could not agree on a final budget until more than two months after the deadline.

CAL STATE FEES UP: A1