Northwestern University 'Suddenly' Lays Off Dozens Of Staffers

EVANSTON, IL — Northwestern University announced the layoffs of dozens of staffers Thursday as it implements "stronger controls on spending" while heading for the end fiscal year with a projected budget deficit. A university spokesperson confirmed 80 staff members were cut, representing of about 1 percent of all university staff, but no faculty positions have been eliminated.

University President Morton Schapiro, Provost Jonathan Holloway and Interim Senior Vice President for Business sent an email to students and staff Thursday afternoon announcing the job cuts. It said they were "in the process" of notifying people whose positions had been eliminated.

The email said the cuts were targeting areas where a "reduced number of projects" had decreased staffing needs or where there had been "significant growth in administrative positions in recent years." A spokesperson declined to specify the number of positions eliminated and in which departments they existed.

It also listed other measures that the university was taking to cut spending, including deferring several major facility projects, cutting academic non-salary expenses by 5 percent and 10 percent for administrative expenses and cuts to information technology projects.

The university leaders said there was no single reason for the operating shortfall, but was the result of "our initiatives in a number of areas."

The university recently completed a $270 million lakefront sports facility with funding from a multi-year donor appeal that had raised $3.57 billion as of last September.

Holloway had previously said the university did not plan to lay off staff to reduce the deficit, which in January was projected to range from $50 million to $100 million of the school's $2 billion annual operating budget, the Daily Northwestern reported. The provost called it an "annoyance" at the time.

A spokesperson told Patch Friday there were no updated projected deficit numbers available.

On Thursday, a staff member told the Daily that they had been told "repeatedly" that there would not be any layoffs before fellow employees were told "suddenly" their IDs had been deactivated and they were asked to leave campus.