In Arizona adjuncts are fired to balance the budget

by TAA Staff

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA President Peter Likins reported in
February that 128 courses and 128 jobs had been eliminated
because of a $16 million mid-year budget cut officials are still trying to meet. The courses were not required for graduation
and were cut campus-wide. Fifty-six of the positions were adjunct faculty members and the rest were full-time temporary employees. The University of Arizona will cut programs to meet deeper cuts, Likins said, as the state’s budget crisis dominated the agenda Friday at the Arizona Board of Regents meeting at Arizona State University. Only a few miles away in Phoenix, legislators wrestled with a shortfall of about $800 million for next year’s state budget. Likins reminded the regents, who oversee the state’s university system, that at their last board meeting they agreed to his request to phase out Arizona International College.

“You’ve made kids cry by doing that,” Likins said, adding that while it wasn’t easy, it was necessary for UA’s financial health–and was just the beginning.

The ratio of students to tenured faculty at Arizona State University is about 30:1, up from about 20:1 a decade ago, ASU President Lattie Coor said. Some of the load is carried by adjunct, or part-time faculty, but he said classes will get bigger as the result of more budget cuts.

The UA and ASU are dealing with large enrollment increases the state needs to acknowledge, Likins said. The UA will need about $7 million more this year to accommodate the growth, and not to factor that into the budget would be dishonest, he said. Likins was also upset that lawmakers have proposed reducing the 5 percent raise promised state employees in April. He said the promised raises were “the one good thing” to come out of the last budget session.

Adjunct and part-time faculty will not, however, benefit from those raises.