University to announce first layoffs - Tim Johnson, Vermont Free Press

A first round of layoffs — one to two dozen positions — will be announced by the University of Vermont on Friday, with decisions on additional job cuts deferred until UVM’s financial picture becomes clearer in the spring. That’s what UVM President Dan Fogel told the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday during his annual appearance before the panel to request state budgetary support. The amount of that support — which could vary widely under different scenarios at a time of fiscal austerity — will affect the scale of UVM cutbacks over the next few months. At one extreme is Gov. Jim Douglas’ budget proposal, endorsed by Fogel and other higher education leaders, to boost the state’s annual higher education funding by 20 percent, to a total UVM appropriation of about $48 million.