News reports from Raleigh mounted Friday, April 9, after President Erskine Bowles warned of sweeping job losses across the University of North Carolina system, but what implications this will have on the Wilmington institution is still unclear.
Speaking to members of the UNC Board of Governors on Friday, Bowles warned that if the system was forced to scale back another 5 percent from its budget, the resulting cutbacks would amount to nearly 1,000 job losses, half of which would be faculty members, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.
The UNC system is already bracing for a 2 percent decrease, which the system could handle, Bowles said according to the N&O.
But Bowles sounded the alarm warning of job losses in light of recent requests from the Office of State Budget and Management that all state agencies draft 5 percent reduction scenarios.
Last year, the University of North Carolina Wilmington hurdled job losses by reassigning employees to vacant positions. Those positions that couldn't be filled were eliminated and a hiring freeze was implemented, but no employees lost their jobs.
The university also slashed expenditures on events like lecturers to allay cuts to full-time staff, said Dana Fischetti, a UNCW spokesperson.
Even back then, as the economy spiraled downward, UNCW Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo cautioned that the potential for a reduction in employees could come to fruition.
"Historically," she said in a 2009 statement, "UNCW is one of the least-funded state universities."
In an interview Friday, Fischetti said that at this point Bowles' comments were hypothetical. She said the university doesn't know what cuts may come from the state next year.
