Claremont Insider: One More Sign of the Times: Layoffs at CMC

Monday, May 25, 2009

One More Sign of the Times: Layoffs at CMC

An article in the Daily Bulletin noted that the Claremont McKenna College is eliminating 11 administrative positions by the end of June as a cost-cutting measure. Three of the positions were vacant, so that means that eight people were handed pink slips.

The cuts come in response to a significant drop in CMC's endowment, according to Richard Rodner, CMC's associate vice president for public affairs. Rodner did not disclose the exact amount of the cuts CMC needed to make to balance its books, but he did note that the college had already slashed $1.5 million from its operating budget through faculty and staff early retirements.

The Bulletin article, by Wes Woods II, quoted Rodner on the cuts:

"It's important to know we haven't done this lightly and we've certainly have looked at the process of making certain that our core mission is maintained," he said. "We focused efforts on minimizing the level of tuition increases, supporting financial aid and meeting every student's needs."

"When I say financial aid, we don't do loans. It's not financial loans. What I said was we will continue to support the financial aid program, and meet 100 percent of financial need without any packaged loans.

He said it was "private information" on who these people are who were laid off.

"As far as we know, we are not planning anything further in the near future," Rodner said. "We sincerely hope we don't have to go through this again. Economic circumstance dictates how to evaluate circumstances in the future."

The article also said that CMC was facing a deficit of between $10-12 million by 2012-2013.