The recession has cost the University of Toronto law school two dream hires; professors whose job interviews the school cancelled abruptly last month because of a $2.5 million shortfall in its endowments.
What makes it worse to Dean Mayo Moran is that one already has been snapped up by a U.S. school.
“They were two great Canadians; one a specialist in international development and the other in health –” Moran stops herself before saying too much about who they were, because of confidentiality and just a little embarrassment.
“It doesn’t matter how spectacular they were – and they were terrific – but we couldn’t justify hiring them,” said Moran, who is scrambling to cut costs without touching the $2 million in aid so many students use to help pay the $20,000 tuition.
And so, for the first time, the world-renowned faculty will run a deficit the university will have to cover.
It seems even the Ivory Tower, hailed as a refuge from the storms of the marketplace, is having to batten the hatches in this economy.
At York University, where all departments have been told to chop 3.5 per cent from their budgets for each of the next three years, law Dean Patrick Monahan has postponed a search for two new professors; one a leading scholar in human rights, and another to fill a retirement.
“It’s not something we like to do, but if you have to make 3.5 per cent in cuts over the next three years, it’s very challenging,” said Monahan, noting he may have to chop the number of courses offered to upper-year students.
The recession also has prompted York to scrap small niche “majors” such as Russian Studies (which drew only two new students this year), cancel one of two Canadian studies programs and a small cultural studies stream of fine arts.
On a less lofty plane, York has cut office cleaning from every day to twice a week, is urging staff to curb BlackBerry use and may consider getting rid of professors’ clunky old land lines that get used so little in the era of email.
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NYU Applauds John Sexton’s $1 Salary
(excerpted from Take Back NYU!, May 13, 2009)
Our preemptive congratulations to New York University’s John Sexton on his expected announcement that the president will take a symbolic salary in the amount of $1 per year until the current fiscal crisis in academia ends. As the largest private university in the world, this move will send a strong signal to the NYU community, as well as colleges and universities around the country. NYU is committed to do everything in its power to remain a vital institution in the intellectual life of New York City. This sacrifice demonstrates the university’s outstanding commitment to research, learning, and preparing the next generation of scholars and leaders.
“If we are to maintain both the extraordinary academic momentum of recent years and the financial stability of our University, we will have to be particularly nimble and creative, ” writes Sexton. This announcement serves as proof of the creativity, innovative thinking, and commitment to learning that has made NYU famous throughout the world.
This is not merely a symbolic action, and the president’s $850,000 contribution is only the most visible in a groundswell of material support to be shown by administrators and stewards of the institution. In response, Provosts, Vice Presidents and Deans are likewise expected to unanimously announce temporary salaries of $22,000 per year. This amount is equivalent to what the university’s estimated cost of room, board and transportation in calculating stipends to teaching assistant in the New York City area. In order that this move does not disrupt the vital business of our university, these administrators will retain their subsidized housing in Manhattan and work-related expense accounts.
To read more about the salary reinvestment movement, click here.