On Thursday, the University of Maine sent a letter to its employees addressing a projected $19 million budget deficit. In the letter, President Joan Ferrini-Mundy and Provost Gabriel Paquette outlined a plan that will include staff layoffs and faculty retrenchments across both UMaine and UMaine Machias campuses to reduce university spending. The plan would go into effect for the next fiscal year (FY28) if the draft budget is approved by the Board of Trustees (BoT). The number of faculty and staff positions that will be eliminated, and when those affected will receive notice, has not yet been determined.
This decision follows an April 3 letter from the Faculty Senate, which expressed disappointment with university leadership in light of proposed budget cuts. Faculty Senate members were concerned that administrators had not been adhering to the established principles of shared governance, thus resulting in a budget misalignment.
At the time, the Maine Campus interviewed Faculty Senate member Brian McGill, who reported that communication from administrators had been insufficient. McGill added that faculty were confused as to how a budget deficit could have occurred given that grants were increasing and enrollment was high. The letter from the Faculty Senate expressed concern about the university’s budget and “an unsustainable and poorly planned future.”
The university’s plan to address the projected deficit centers on Academic Affairs, who will be responsible for reducing operating costs by $10 million as well as generating revenue. The office intends to terminate under-enrolled programs, eliminate one-fifth of vacant positions and bolster enrollment.
If implemented, this plan would account for about $4.3 million of the shortfall. There is no concrete plan for addressing the remaining $5.7 million that Academic Affairs is responsible for, but proposed ideas include increasing the elimination of vacant positions from 20% to 40%.
“If key assumptions are not ultimately adjusted, and if new options do not materialize, resolving the remaining $5.7M Academic Affairs deficit will inevitably require faculty retrenchments and staff layoffs, going beyond what standard attrition (e.g., retirements and voluntary departures) could address,” the letter reads.
Paquette and Ferrini-Mundy did not address how the remaining $9 million of the projected deficit would be handled. Questions remain about the timing and number of staffing cuts, the distribution of cuts across academic departments and how these cuts may affect graduate student employment.
This story is developing and updates about any decisions made will be provided as they become available.
