Editor’s note: The Daily Orange Editorial Board met with Syracuse University administrators to discuss the Invest Syracuse initiative unveiled in July. This editorial is the third in a four-part series based on that discussion. You can read more about Invest Syracuse here.

Syracuse University is a business, and it has a responsibility to cut costs whenever it’s effective to do so. Still, its business is in education, and students are its primary customers. That means student voices have a stake in cuts the university makes and SU can’t assume employees won’t be affected either.

For example, Schine Student Center services went through some changes this fall. The downstairs copy center was outsourced to multinational corporation Ricoh USA, and CuseTech, which is located on the upper level of the bookstore, no longer offered in-house computer repair services.

These changes to the copy center and CuseTech can’t be directly attributed to Invest Syracuse. But they do follow the same vein as the initiative’s goal to save money through efficiency cuts and consolidations.

Layoffs were not considered as part of this initiative, said Amir Rahnamay-Azar, SU’s senior vice president and chief financial officer.

“That’s not say as with any other dynamic organization that we will not be looking for efficiencies and opportunities to modernize our services and reduce duplication,” Rahnamay-Azar said. “But that is decidedly a different approach from cutting costs through across the board reductions in the workforce or layoffs.”

As employees naturally leave the university or retire, their positions will be reevaluated and perhaps divvied up to other employees or replaced by technology.

These cuts weren’t in the academic realm, but they play a big role in student life. CuseTech’s closure — which hasn’t been publicized through a campus-wide email — could leave students without quick access to repairs for their technology, which is often central to their academics.

The university has identified $20 million of potential cuts within its budget as part of the $30 million savings goal. That leaves $10 million — or more — for cuts that are still undecided.

Still, that number indicates SU has made some substantial plans for what on-campus services will be affected. We just don’t know what they are yet.

SU administrators should value communication and giving fair warning with all plans under the Invest Syracuse umbrella, especially when they affect jobs and student services. Otherwise, the university could face backlash similar to the protests that followed its hush-hush closure of the Advocacy Center in 2014.

It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating as the university develops this 5-year initiative: When SU cuts services, it should strive for transparency from proposal to execution.

The Daily Orange Editorial Board serves as the voice of the organization and aims to contribute the perspectives of students to discussions that concern Syracuse University and the greater Syracuse community. The editorial board’s stances are determined by a majority of its members. You can read more about the editorial board here.

Published on September 26, 2017 at 11:33 pm

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