FPU: Layoffs, cuts imminent - Abby Spegman, Sentinal Source

After years of declining enrollment, Franklin Pierce University will lay off staff members in the coming weeks, university officials announced. Speaking to faculty and staff, President James F. Birge said that along with staff cuts, the university will immediately suspend contributions to staff pensions and reduce operating budgets. The cuts could affect all non-teaching positions. (Professors are protected by a collective bargain agreement.) The university has 257 staff members across six campuses in New Hampshire and Arizona. In an interview Wednesday, Birge would not say how many positions will be cut. That will depend on the final enrollment for the fall semester, which begins Aug. 30, he said.