COD staff cuts include nurse

State funding shortfalls are being blamed for a decision to layoff 14 College of DuPage employees, including the campus nurse.

Beside the one part-time and 13 full-time employees losing their jobs, college officials announced Thursday that three other open posts would not be filled along with four open faculty positions.

The faculty jobs were for instructors in French, history, sonography and earth science, Vice President for External Communications Joe Moore said.

Some faculty members questioned the need to cut positions when the board recently approved raises for the school's 44 administrators. The faculty, which will soon begin the last year of its contract, is also receiving raises this year.

Vice President for Academic Affairs Joe Collins said the campus nurse position was being phased out. Among the campus nurse's duties were hundreds of screenings for the nearly 1,000 nursing and health-industry students who attend classes each semester. Those screenings had been farmed out to Edward Hospital in the past year and now COD is requiring those students to schedule and pay for the screenings on their own. Medical issues will be handled by campus police, which has long been the campus' first responders, Collins said.

College officials refused to identify Thursday what other staff positions were cut. The employees received a severance package.

Vice President for Administrative Affairs Tom Glaser estimated the college would be saving at least $650,000 a year by eliminating the 14 jobs.

Those positions fall under an employment category called "classified employees," whose ranks are actually increasing next year by 12 jobs. Meanwhile, faculty positions are decreasing by 10 positions next year, according to financial documents presented at Thursday's board meeting.

COD President Robert Breuder said the cuts were necessary after his requests for concessions from various staff groups around the campus were rebuffed.

"We had a financial plan that called for concessions and not all of them were realized, so we had to look at other ways," he said.

This year, COD finance officials expect to receive $13 million in state funds. Next year, they are only budgeting for $4.3 million from the state, which equates to just 2.8 percent of the college's operating budget. Breuder said community college finances were set up years ago so that funding would be split evenly between property taxes, tuition and state revenues.

The state hasn't been pulling its weight for years, but next year is expected to be the worst ever, Breuder complained.

"The next several months will be difficult as we navigate an increasingly unpredictable state funding scenario and continue to position College of DuPage for future success," he added.