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Vice-Chancellor's response to plea for costing of lesser cuts to La Trobe arts

Posted 23 July 2012 by Jack Reynolds (La Trobe University)

Email correspondence and attached letter regarding the proposed cuts to Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University.

________________________________________
From: Jack Reynolds
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 5:43 PM
To: John Dewar; Timothy Murray; HUSS OCIS Feedback; Pranay Lodhiya
Cc: John Rosenberg (DVC IFS); Paul Salzman; Helen Lee; Geoffrey Mayer
Subject: RE: A plea for modelling of lesser number of redundancies

Thank you Professor Dewar.

I do wonder, however, if the savings on redundancies have been factored into the below equation, which on my basic sums would seem to be more than the $3.8 million shortfall for 2013 on this updated 25FTE projection (20 less redundancies might be around $4million saving to the university). I realise this does not address 2014 and beyond, but there may well also be various other associated costs, especially as concerns HDR supervision and the like, which I also imagine have not yet been factored in to Pranay's figures. But the real worry is that staff losses of this magnitude will effect student load at all levels, and hence the profitability and reputation of the Faculty for the next few years, as well as our research capacity. My colleagues will no doubt make these kind of points in more detail on Thursday and I thank you in advance for giving them your time.

All the best, Jack


Dr Jack Reynolds
Senior Lecturer, Philosophy Department Coordinator
School of Communication, Arts, and Critical Enquiry
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences | La Trobe University | Melbourne (Bundoora) 3086
T: (03) 9479 3605 | F: (03) 9479 3639 | E: jack.reynolds@latrobe.edu.au | www.latrobe.edu.au
Academic Profile: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/about/staff/profile?uname=JReynolds
________________________________________
From: John Dewar
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 5:31 PM
To: Jack Reynolds; Timothy Murray; HUSS OCIS Feedback; Pranay Lodhiya
Cc: John Rosenberg (DVC IFS); Paul Salzman; Helen Lee; Geoffrey Mayer
Subject: Re: A plea for modelling of lesser number of redundancies

Dear Jack

Thank you for your letter. I appreciate your concerns and the issues you
highlight in your letter.

Before responding to the points you raise, it is important to be clear
that the University will be contributing significant financial support to
the Faculty for 2012-4, assuming that the savings proposed in the OCIS are
realised. The University subsidy to the faculty for 2012 is approximately
$4.3m, based on current projections for second semester enrolments.  This
subsidy will continue into 2013 and 2014, at approximately $1m a year, so
that the faculty can make the transition to sustainability while
minimising the impact on teaching and research.

The OCIS is aligned with the objectives of the Strategic Vision for the
University. The Faculty is very aware that we must retain a balance of
early, mid-career and established researchers. Whilst I agree that more
redundancies of staff at higher levels would reduce the total number of
redundancies required, this may not be the most strategic approach for the
University as a whole; and we cannot use seniority alone as the criterion
for redundancy. As the OCIS makes clear, decisions made in relation to
staffing will be based on the needs of the curricula and Faculty and not
on the salary level of the staff members.

As you requested, Pranay has modelled the impact of 25 staff redundancies
on the same basis as the modelling within the OCIS. This modelling
indicates that a reduction in 25 staff would result in savings of
approximately $3.7m.  In turn, this would mean that the total support
required from the rest of the University to the Faculty in 2013 would need
to be $3.8m, i.e. $2.8m more than currently provided for. This does not
account for any potential further impact of the lower than expected
enrolments in semester 2.

I am not prepared to sanction this level of ongoing subsidy to the
Faculty, since it will impact significantly on other parts of the
University and on our capacity to achieve our strategic objectives.

Yours

John


Professor John Dewar
Vice-Chancellor and President | La Trobe University | Victoria 3086 |
www.latrobe.edu.au <http://www.latrobe.edu.au/>
p: 03 9479 2000 | f: 03 9471 0093|  e: j.dewar@latrobe.edu.au
La Trobe University - ranked top in Victoria for student satisfaction
(Sweeney Uni Student Report, 2009)

CRICOS Provider 00115M


On 13/07/12 5:00 PM, "Jack Reynolds" <Jack.Reynolds@latrobe.edu.au> wrote:

>Dear Professor Dewar, Professor Murray, and others members of senior
>management,
>
>I attach a letter that I have drafted on behalf of the program
>coordinators in FHUSS, which develops a commitment Pranay made in recent
>consultations with the NTEU to model lesser staff losses, starting from
>25 rather than 45FTE. It was suggested by the program coordinators that I
>forward it to Professor Dewar in advance of a possible meeting with
>representatives from this group.
>
>Please don't think that this means that we in FHUSS are putting our heads
>in the sand. We appreciate the gravity of the situation. Nonetheless, we
>think the consequences of 45 redundancies - on research performances, on
>entry scores, on student load (UG and PG), etc. - are likely to be such
>that it is in the university's best interests to consider a lesser
>number, or at least to try a lesser number first before returning to the
>issue post 2014 if it is required. You may think me wildly optimistic,
>but I think that there is at least a chance that my proposal of lesser
>redundancies may be sufficient, perhaps supplemented by natural attrition
>post-2014 to continue to bring our salary costs into a sustainable
>position. The current proposal of 45, while appearing to save our
>bottom-line, may not in fact do so if we lose 30% of our HDR load and if
>we lose many of our existing undergraduate students. Moreover, we think
>it will substantially diminish the university's ability to achieve
>central goals of the new strategic plan.
>
>Thanks for your consideration of this letter.
>
>All the best, Jack
>
>
>Dr Jack Reynolds
>Senior Lecturer, Philosophy Department Coordinator
>School of Communication, Arts, and Critical Enquiry
>Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences | La Trobe University |
>Melbourne (Bundoora) 3086
>T: (03) 9479 3605 | F: (03) 9479 3639 | E: jack.reynolds@latrobe.edu.au |
>www.latrobe.edu.au
>Academic Profile:
>http://www.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/about/staff/profile?uname=JReynolds

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Letter to La Trobe Vice-Chancellor from Jack Reynolds on behalf of Program Coordinators in FHUSS

Published: 22 Jul, 2012
Tags: LTU, HUSS, Humanities and social sciences, job cuts, OCIS, la trobe,

A plea for modelling of a lesser number of redundancies.