Dartmouth Medical School will layoff an undetermined number of staff members as part of a $25-million budget reduction to be implemented over the next two years, DMS Dean William Green announced in an e-mail to the medical school community on Monday. The e-mail outlined several measures that DMS will enact to reduce expenditures, including cutting administrative costs and increasing tuition.
The Medical School will have to reduce the size of its work force, but the cuts will not affect members in positions fully funded by research grants, Green said in an interview.
It is unlikely that DMS will increase employee salaries for the 2010 fiscal year, except for those faculty members who are promoted to a higher position, Green said.
The Medical School implemented a hiring freeze in November 2008 that allowed departments to fill vacant positions only if "absolutely necessary" and encouraged internal hiring whenever possible, Green said.
DMS is now expanding the freeze to include all current and future vacancies until the school's financial situation improves, Green said. Searches for department chairs will continue, he said.
"We're working very hard to see how we can maintain a high level of service and keep the medical school working," Green said.
Green said he hopes to a have a more specific budget proposal by the spring. The Medical School's senior associate deans, chief financial officer and chief operating officer will help Green deciding which positions may be cut. This group will consult department chairs, who "have the best knowledge as to how to implement these changes," Green said.
Green did not specify which departments will face layoffs, but said that all aspects of the institution will be reviewed. Green said he expects that "in the end, all departments will be affected."
The $25-million reduction in spending does not include the $3.1-million reduction that DMS already implemented in the second half of the 2009 fiscal year. The earlier reduction involved cuts to discretionary spending, which includes money spent on travel and seminars.
"We asked departments in December to make a 5-percent cut in spending for the rest of the year," Green said, noting that departments could only make limited changes mid-year.
"These are so-called minor things, but if we can save a job or two, that's huge," Green said.
DMS has also postponed plans for new buildings, including the C. Everett Koop Medical Science Complex, Green said. The Medical School will also increase tuition by 6 percent next year, although Green said funding for financial aid will be preserved at current levels.
In his message to the DMS community, Green stressed the need for a "new vision" to respond to the economic crisis, noting that the College's budget reductions stem largely from an "unprecedented" decline in the endowment.
DMS is among many medical schools that have been affected by the economic downturn. Several other institutions have implemented similar budget cuts, hiring freezes and workforce reductions. Harvard Medical School is implementing a 10-percent cut in academic and administrative budgets and a hiring freeze, The Harvard Crimson reported. Weill Cornell Medical College, which has planned an 8-percent budget cut by July, also anticipates that layoffs will become necessary, according to the Cornell University web site.
"All academic medical centers are having tremendous difficulties," Green said. "We're all suffering from the economic downturn."
