By Teresa Auch Schultz, Post-Tribune staff writer
tauch@post-trib.com
The continuing economic recession is starting to show at local universities.
Valparaiso University ended up cutting up to 53 employees through voluntary severance packages and layoffs, Dustin Wunderlich, spokesman, said.
The university had announced in the spring that it needed to reduce costs and had offered several early retirement packages to faculty and staff. Wunderlich said 44 employees opted to take the offer.
More cuts were needed, though, Wunderlich said, and fewer than 10 employees from various departments were laid off. The university now has 1,060 employees, Wunderlich said.
The university also froze salaries for the next fiscal year, which starts Wednesday.
The university also looked at other ways to reduce the layoffs, including filling needed gaps created from those who took the retirement package with people from inside the university. No more cuts are expected for now, he said.
Other local universities haven't reported cutting jobs yet, but they are taking other steps to keep costs in line.
Wes Lukoshus, spokesman for Purdue University Calumet said salary freezes have been implemented and any job openings are being scrutinized
Indiana University Northwest is taking similar steps.
The IU president had already frozen salaries for about 400 administrators at all campuses, which saved $2 million, spokesman Christopher Sheid said. For IUN, that includes also looking at any open positions to see if they absolutely need to be filled, Sheid said.
"You want to find places you can cut costs where it's feasible," he said.