President's signature no longer required to employ new faculty, staff

The university-wide hiring freeze will not be lifted, but filing for an exception under the freeze will be easier than before, UA President Peter Likins announced yesterday afternoon.

Under the modified freeze, Likins' signature is no longer required to hire new faculty or staff. Now, only a vice president's signature must be obtained to approve an exception.

Adjunct professors may still be hired without approval of a vice president, under an exemption Likins approved last month.

Searches for certain high-level administrators - including a vice provost who would work to combat racial and gender biases within campus departments - are also allowed to continue.

The hiring freeze still restricts increasing salaries using state-allocated funds.

The original freeze was implemented Oct. 1 to help offset $13.9 million in state-mandated budget cuts.

Likins said that until the state Legislature announces whether the University of Arizona's budget cuts will remain at 4 percent, the length of the freeze and the magnitude of the university's budget rescission will remain unclear.

A special legislative session, which convened Nov. 13, will determine the size of the cuts.

"Until (the special legislative session) concludes, we will not be able to assume that our present plans to return $13.9 million to the state will suffice," Likins said. "This freeze will end automatically when the Legislature adjourns and if the planned 4 percent rescission holds."

Likins said the change in the language of the freeze was not semantics or an attempt to dodge lifting the freeze completely.

He said this is a substantial change in the structure of the freeze because it is easier for someone to obtain the signature of a vice president than of the president.

Even before the cuts were announced in September, deans and department heads battled with concerns about faculty recruitment and retention. The freeze has left officials concerned about how they will be able to hire new faculty and hold onto the instructors they already have.

Likins said he does not believe the freeze will cause long-term damage, but he said toying with a state employee salary package, planned for April, could.

Two weeks ago at a Campus Town Hall meeting, Likins and UA Provost George Davis responded to questions concerning the hiring freeze.

"I can say with some confidence that if the 4 percent holds in this legislative special session, then it will be possible to thaw that freeze on the first of December," Likins said at the Town Hall.

But that date has come and gone, and the Legislature is still debating the size of the cuts for all state agencies.

Likins said he has no idea when the Legislature will make its decision about the university cuts.

"Will they get it done by Christmas?" he asked. "I hope so. But we have to learn to live with our freeze just in case the Legislature hits us with more than 4 percent."

When the Legislature does release its decision, and if that decision hits UA with more than 4 percent, Likins said his cabinet will re-examine the situation.

"If the cuts are 4.1 percent, that will be a different story than if they are 6 percent," he said.