Fifteen campus services staff members have been laid off, furloughed or had their hours reduced over the past three months, according to an email from vice president for institutional projects Josh Keniston to the campus services division on Wednesday. Additionally, 26 campus services employees have opted to take advantage of Dartmouth’s voluntary early retirement offer. The College will not hire replacements.
Campus services is the latest division to lay off staff in response to budgetary cuts amid the College’s $36-million operating loss for fiscal year 2020. In mid-September, the Tuck School of Business announced that it had laid off 18 staff members.
The campus services furloughs and hour reductions affected employees who worked in “areas that are driven by seasonality or in operations where there has been little to no work,” according to the email. Keniston added that “a small number” of layoffs occurred in “cases where longer-term budget impacts were expected, or there was a need to better align [campus services] operations.”
The campus services division encompasses an array of services, including Residential Operations, Hinman Mail, Dartmouth Dining and Facilities Operations and Management.
Keniston attributed campus services’ budget cuts to “revenue losses and COVID-19-related expenses.”
“We are working to achieve our targeted savings by focusing first on non-compensation reductions such as contracted expenses, travel, entertainment and savings from having fewer students and staff on campus,” he wrote. “However, most of our expenses are personnel-related, and some reductions in this area were needed as well.”
Provost Joseph Helble explained in a Sept. 16 “Community Conversations” broadcast that it will be up to “each divisional leader” to determine whether job reductions will be necessary to meet budgetary targets.
Keniston wrote that he does not believe there will be further layoffs or furloughs ”for the foreseeable future,” as long as the College continues “to welcome students to campus in the upcoming terms.”
In addition to individual layoffs, furloughs and reductions in hours, the email detailed various organizational consolidations and other changes within campus services.
Due to “increasing cross-over” in the projects they manage, the Office of Planning, Design and Construction and the capital renewal program in FO&M have been consolidated into a single office called Project Management Services. Additionally, IT professionals have been consolidated under a single leader — Adrian Meehan — who will report to both campus services COO Julie Findley and vice president for Information, Technology and Consulting and chief information officer Mitchel Davis.
