Occidental College Plans 10 Layoffs to Cut Deficit

Occidental College on Wednesday announced that it is laying off 10 employees as part of a financial overhaul designed to curtail its longtime problem of hemorrhaging red ink.

To balance the budget, President Theodore R. Mitchell plans to cut $1 million from the administration’s budget this year and shrink the faculty budget next year by $1 million through attrition and dismissal of some part-time lecturers.

He also plans to increase the number of freshmen and transfer students to make sure the campus operates at full capacity and continue aggressive fund-raising to make up any remaining shortfall.

“These are always painful decisions,” said Mitchell. “But we believe the long-term health of the college depends upon putting its financial house in order.”

The private liberal arts college in Eagle Rock has been running a $4-million deficit for years, Mitchell said, forcing administrators to dip more deeply into endowment earnings.

Trustees of the 113-year-old private college brought Mitchell in last year with specific instructions to eliminate the deficit. If he balances the budget by 2003 as planned, Mitchell believes it will be the first time the budget has been balanced since 1991--though some financial records are unclear.

Mitchell announced the layoffs Wednesday in “Dear Colleague” letters to Occidental’s faculty, staff, students and alumni.

He said that the loss of 10 people and elimination of four unfilled positions--mostly clerical, maintenance and administrative support workers--is structured to minimize the impact on the college’s 2,600 students and academic quality.

“There is no doubt,” Mitchell wrote, “that decisions like these tear at our fabric as a community and that we are all saddened by the loss of friends and colleagues.”