UWGB lays off 9 employees, orders furloughs amid budget concerns

Danielle DuClos, Green Bay Press-Gazette
Updated ·2 min read

GREEN BAY — The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will lay off nine staff members to help address its ongoing structural deficit, according to an email sent to faculty and staff Monday.

The layoffs will save the university $322,114 in recurring costs, with the cuts affecting libraries and the Rising Phoenix program, which helps high schoolers get dual credit at the university.

In-person library services at the Manitowoc and Marinette campuses will stop at the end of the calendar year, and the Sheboygan campus' library services will significantly decrease its service hours in the spring semester.

The university plans to move library research and support services online for those campuses and repurpose the library spaces by spring.

Chancellor Mike Alexander's office called the layoffs the "most painful aspects of the cuts," in an email to faculty and staff.

More on layoffs: UW-Oshkosh plans layoffs, furloughs in response to $18 million deficit

In addition to the layoffs, university administrators making over $100,000 will take a furlough, saving $141,602, and the university will cut one-time spending by $3.9 million across all areas of the school. Staff and faculty travel will be restricted to what's deemed essential.

Employees must take seven days of furlough by June 29, 2024, but not more than two half-days or one full day every two-week biweekly pay period.

UWGB is also putting in place interim "position control measures on all future positions and compensation adjustments to create ongoing salary saving," according to the email.  "Any new or replacement hire must be approved by the appropriate vice chancellor."

The cuts will reduce the university's structural deficit by $381,800 and keep over $5 million in the Tuition Fund reserves for the 2024 fiscal year. But it won't be enough, according to the email.

"The current reductions are not enough to solve the longer-term dynamic structural issues," the email said. "The changes ... will ensure that we remain fiscally responsible and allow us time to continue to make strategic decisions on how to move forward this year and next so that we get back to having a positive balance sheet."

These cuts come as UW-Oshkosh announced in August that it would lay off about 200 non-faculty staff and administrators to address its $18 million budget deficit. In September, St. Norbert College in De Pere also announced in that was laying off 41 staff members.

Danielle DuClos is a Report for America corps member who covers K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at dduclos@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @danielle_duclos. You can directly support her work with a tax-deductible donation at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: Our subscribers make this coverage possible. Click to see the Green Bay Press Gazette's special offers at greenbaypressgazette.com/subscribe and download our app on the App Store or Google Play.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB lays off 9 employees, orders furloughs amid budget concerns