BU head calls for a hiring freeze
Cites uncertainty of US economy
By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | October 1, 2008
Boston University President Robert A. Brown last night called for an immediate hiring freeze and
a moratorium on all construction projects that are not already underway in a clear sign that the nation's credit and banking crisis has penetrated the walls of academia.
"I feel it is important to act preemptively to manage the potential short- and longer-term risks to us created by the current economic uncertainty," Brown wrote in an e-mail to faculty and staff last night, weeks before he was due to present his annual letter on the university's academic and fiscal health.
Brown emphasized that he was taking precautionary steps because of "uncertainties created by the upheavals in the financial markets and the nation's poor economic outlook," and not because of the university's fiscal health.
The BU president met with senior administrators yesterday to discuss taking the preemptive step as a way to shore up the university's coffers in case it needs to make more money available to meet an anticipated growth in the need for financial aid - in light of rising unemployment and frozen capital markets affecting families' ability to secure college loans. BU's annual tuition and housing costs about $48,000.
"We thought it'd be prudent to put things on hold until things settle down, and not take on new staff members if the economy deteriorates," said Joseph Mercurio, executive vice president who oversees BU's budget. "If demonstrated need goes up regarding financial aid, we need to be prepared to step in to fill those gaps."
BU is at the forefront in responding to the economy's recent nosedive, according to the American Council on Education.
"This is the first institution that we've heard of doing something like this, but given the fiscal situation that we're all facing, it probably won't be the last," said Tim McDonough, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based council. "This is a smart step to take so they can keep a handle on things and stave off more difficult decisions down the road."
The university, which employs 8,000 people, has roughly 200 to 300 staff openings, said Mercurio, expecting more specific analysis today. All faculty searches already authorized, as well as dorm security and campus police positions, will continue, and the jobs should be filled, he said.
Brown, who was unavailable for an interview last night, has a goal of expanding the university's faculty by 150 new positions within a decade. That won't change.
All other open positions, including clerical, accounting, and support staff, will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis depending on how critical they are to the university.
Virginia Sapiro, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said she appreciates Brown's inclination to tread carefully on future hiring and does not see it as a "panic attack." Though she has yet to receive formal authorization, she said the provost's office reassured her yesterday that she would likely be able to hire more than two dozen faculty members this year.
"As long as the sky doesn't fall," Sapiro said. "We're assuming that Chicken Little isn't going to be coming through our door in the next few weeks."
Construction projects already underway - such as creating practice rooms for the music program and a new $170 million pair of towers to house 960 students - will be completed as planned. The dormitory is 70 percent finished, Mercurio said, and is expected to open on time next June.
The future of more than $130 million in other projects still in planning phases is murky. Those include expanding the law school; building a student services center that will house the admissions office, career services, and academic resource center; and renovating the College of Communications. Planning with architects will continue, but it is unclear when construction will begin.
"It may turn out in two or three weeks that the crisis will pass and all of this will be for naught," Mercurio said.
The university, with a $1.8 billion operating budget, just completed its two best years in its financial history, he said. The university's $1.2 billion endowment is also healthy, and saw a 2.9 percent increase in the last fiscal year.
Tracy Jan can be reached at
tjan@globe.com.
