The University of Akron’s Board of Trustees passed a budget Wednesday that includes 178 layoffs; 96 of the layoffs are union faculty. However, the faculty union rejected the contract that included the layoffs, leaving the outcome to be decided by a third-party arbitrator. University president Gary Miller says bringing the laid off faculty back could potentially deplete the school’s reserve funds. “If under some circumstance we have to bring them back that would be eight million dollars to this fiscal year, which you will see of course would vastly increase our draw on the precious reserves.” Miller says the university is prepared to offer all current programs with the reduced staff. The reduction in force goes into effect August 22.
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