The sun shines brightly on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, above the University of New Orleans entrance sign on Lakeshore Drive. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator)
Facing a $10 million budget shortfall, the University of New Orleans has picked two new interim deans who will each lead two separate colleges.
But the consolidation of school leaders doesn’t erase the possibility of staff layoffs next year, a UNO administrator said.
Effective Jan. 1, Randy Kearns will be the interim dean of the College of Business Administration and the College of Liberal Arts and Education, while Steve Johnson will be interim dean of the College of Engineering and the College of Sciences.
The university does not have any immediate plans to search for permanent deans to lead the schools, UNO Vice President for Finance and Administration Edwin Litolff said in an interview with the Illuminator.
Consolidating administrators is part of the university’s plan to save around $2.2 million in salaries. The four previous deans will remain at the university as faculty members, Litolff said. The estimated savings from consolidating the dean positions factored in the keep the former deans remaining as faculty, Litolff said.
With salaries accounting for approximately 75% of the university’s expenses, Litolff said staff layoffs and furloughs in early spring are likely.
“We’ve still got to cut $10 million, so I think part of that [we will] have layoffs and potentially furloughs,” Litolff said. “I don’t know if right now there’s a number or a dollar amount.”
Faculty layoffs are not expected for the spring, Litolff said, but that could change if enrollment doesn’t significantly increase next fall.
UNO has made significant budget cuts in an attempt to rightsize its spending after nearly two decades of declining enrollment. Its student numbers have struggled to recover since the failure of federal levees after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The school had an enrollment of around 17,000 before Katrina, with an immediate drop to around 6,000. For the fall 2024 semester, its total student body was 6,488.
Exiting the crisis will come down to the university’s ability to enroll and retain students.
Hard budget times for the state during Gov. Bobby Jindal’s two terms in office, from 2008-16, led to significant cuts for higher education, one of two large portions of the state budget unprotected in state law. Those cuts switched the burden of funding public colleges and universities from the state to the students, leading to significant tuition hikes across Louisiana.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.