CSUN University News Clippings

UCI to close for 7 days to reduce costs

(September 2, 2009)

College Life Blog
By
Published: 9/1/09

UC Irvine will shut the campus for seven days to reduce operating costs by millions of dollars, helping the state to balance its budget. The university, which has been told to reduce expenses by $77 million, will achieve part of the savings through a furlough plan. The school, Orange County’s largest employer, also has been laying people off, frozen faculty hiring and stopped competing for grants in some areas because it doesn’t have the matching funds required for some research projects.

UCI says in a statement the closure “designates seven closure days as follows:

“Dec. 21-23 and 28-30, 2009: This extends our standard holiday closure by three days. Dec. 24, 25, 31 and Jan. 1 will remain paid university holidays.

“March 25, 2010: This precedes the March 26 Cesar Chavez holiday, creating a four-day weekend.”

“This will not have any impact on insturction,” said Cathy Lawhon, director of media relations. “The closure during the Cesar Chavez holiday occurs during spring break, and the winter furloughs are during winter break.”

Lawhon said the closures will save as much as $11 million in salaries, and an as-yet undetermined amount of money in heating and power costs, especially during the winter break.

The problems that UCI is experiencing have become common at California’s public colleges and universities, which were ordered to slash costs as a result of the state budget crisis. Cal State Fullerton recently announced that it is cutting up to 150 class sections this fall to reduce costs, and further section cuts are likely in the spring.

UCI doesn’t begin its fall quarter until late September and has yet to announce whether it will eliminate class sections.

Publication: Orange County Register