The word “inevitable” is being teamed with “job losses” if the University of Missouri system is unable to work its way out of a twelve-and-a-half percent cut in state funding for higher education in 2013.
The statement came from the University Curators interim president at the end of its meeting in Kansas City.
A reduction is jobs was not part of the formal agenda for the two-day meetings during which tuition hikes were addressed and tabled until a special meeting later this month.
Interim president Stephen Owens was asked about job cuts as a measure to lighten losses ordered by the Governor. His answer was--“given the recommended magnitude of the cut, if it stays in place, it’s inevitable there will be job losses, there will be positions that go unfilled, there will be program reductions and there may be some use of reserves. “
Asked if the jobs surgery would be system wide, Owens replied-- " probably so. ”
Owens said he guesses each campus will have to have a mix of job cuts, leave vacancies as-is and make cuts in educational programs. And it would differ from campus to campus.
Owens and Curator David R. Bradley agreed it will be a difficult task, dealing with a $52 million shortfall if Governor Jay Nixon’s proposed cuts become reality.