DARTMOUTH – The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth will use money from the federal stimulus for capital improvements and educational programming despite calls from its two largest unions to utilize the funds to avoid layoffs, The Herald News reported yesterday.
The heads of the UMass Faculty Federation and Educational Services Unit said the university leadership was violating the spirit of the economic stimulus law, signed by President Barack Obama in February, by putting the $8.5 million it received toward laboratory and classroom renovations, an expansion of its marine science building in New Bedford, online course design and the reduction of debt on its research building.
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“We need to do everything we can, look at every expenditure in the budget, consider every possible option, short of moving ahead with layoffs on the campus,” the union heads said.
The university announced in May a plan to eliminate 64 full-time staff and lay off or reduce the hours of 99 faculty members. The administration also said it would create 32 positions with reduced hours with the expectation of hiring some of the laid off workers to fill the spots.
UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack has said the investments will reap long-term benefits and boost the school’s revenue over time. Spokesman John Hoey confirmed to the Herald News that the university will stay that course.
“We have some very clear principles upon which we think it’s responsible to spend the federal stimulus money. Otherwise, we will be positioning the university to fall of a cliff on July 1, 2010,” he said, referring to the beginning of next fiscal year.
