Just over a week after UF sent notices to many of the 60 employees being laid off, UF President Bernie Machen announced an initiative to use $10 million in stimulus money to hire up to 100 new faculty this year.
Machen made the announcement Thursday during his State of the University speech to the Faculty Senate.
"The areas that are gonna be hiring new faculty are high-demand, based upon student interest," Machen said after his speech. "The areas that have layoffs are areas where the colleges decided they don't have high demand."
"We have a responsibility to you to allow you (students) to take classes so you can graduate," he said.
But John Biro, president of UF's chapter of the United Faculty of Florida, the faculty union, said the plan is unfair to faculty being laid off.
"It's absolutely unconscionable to have a policy where you're trading in proven and loyal and successful faculty," he said. "It's like trading in your used car."
Biro said the plan is proof that Machen is using budget cuts to change the face of the university without properly vetting it with the university community.
"It's a few people's ideas of what should happen without bringing everyone else on board," he said.
He said faculty morale is lower than he's ever seen it and that moves like this discourage the best faculty from seeking jobs at UF.
"Who will want to come here?" Biro asked.
Of the 60 employees being laid off this year, 11 are faculty. And since last August, UF has lost a net of 81 faculty members, a decline of 2.1 percent. In the last two years, Machen said, UF has lost 5 percent of its faculty.
Machen said the new faculty will be hired this fiscal year and will start in July, the beginning of the next fiscal year.
For the first year, their salaries will be paid by stimulus money, and in the second year, differential tuition money will pick up their salaries on a permanent basis.
The number of faculty hired will depend on the mix of junior and senior faculty, Machen said, but it could mean up to 100 new hires.
He said it will also help reduce the faculty-student ratio, which is just more than 20-to-1.
"We're still the lowest in the state of Florida," he said, "but if you look at our peers around the country, our faculty-student ratio is too stretched out."
UF's plan to reduce enrollment by 4,000 will also help that goal. UF's enrollment is now at 49,600, compared to 52,112 last fall.
Machen said really good schools have a faculty-student ratio of 15-to-1, but said UF will never be able to reach that.
Reacting to the recent news that UCF's enrollment topped UF's at the start of classes, Machen said, "Good for them."
"We're not concerned with size," he said, "we're concerned with quality."
Machen also announced that research awards were up 2 percent this year to $574 million, after falling from $635 million to $562 million last year.
By comparison, UF took in $339 million in research awards in 1999-2000.
Machen reported that student parking decal sales were down 9 percent. This decrease comes as UF is creating new parking spaces, with a 927-space parking garage on the corner of Gale Lemerand Drive and Mowry Road that opened Monday.
After Machen's speech, the Senate was briefed on the swine flu pandemic.
"Right now, the severity is a two on a five-point scale," said Phil Barkley, director of UF's Student Health Care Center. Barkley asked faculty to take it easy on students who get sick because UF has requested that students with flu-like symptoms stay home and isolate themselves until 24 hours after their fevers have disappeared.
"Please be flexible with students this fall when it comes to making up work," Barkley said.
Words most used by Machen in his speech.
