Professors, police, coaches: Here are the jobs ULL is cutting to offset budget crisis

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Professors, coaches and police officers are among those being laid off from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette while school officials try to make up for a $25 million deficit.

A list of 56 jobs that the university is cutting, which The Acadiana Advocate received through a public records request, shows that they include workers across a wide array of departments, from academic counselors to assistant coaches. Of those being laid off, their annual salaries ranged from $16,153 to $171,600.

The eliminated positions should lead to $5 million in savings for the university. A new website that UL unveiled this week about the budget crisis says they’ve made enough headway to offset $20.5 million in the deficit, with roughly $5 million left to go.

Interim President Jaimie Hebert announced last month in an email to faculty and staff that the budget deficit he inherited required cuts to all divisions through a combination of position eliminations, retirements, resignations and reassignments.

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Of the 70 affected positions, 51 people — a mix of civil service and non-civil service employees — were laid off. The remaining 19 were reassigned. When the budget deficit came to public light in September, UL also eliminated six additional positions, closed the Office of Sustainability and Community Engagement and restructured the Offices of Communications and Marketing and Auxiliary Services.

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Hebert also asked university departments to cut 10% from their operating budgets, and Academic Affairs to cut 5% to limit impact on instruction.

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The positions being cut at UL include:

Ten people from Academic Affairs, including:
A nursing professor
An education instructor
An English as a second language specialist for international students
A coordinator for the honors program
An academic success coach
A distance learning employee
A director of university connection
A director of the Office of First Year Experience
A director of student development and academic outreach
A planning analyst

Eight people from Athletics, including:
An assistant men’s track coach
An assistant men’s golf coach
An assistant volleyball coach
A donor engagement coordinator
A director of sports medicine
An academic counselor
A director of athletic performance for Olympic sports
A director of athletics for creative services and fan engagement

Seven people from the University Advancement Division, including:
Four communications and marketing employees
Two directors of alumni affairs
A research officer


Five people from the Enrollment Management Division, including:
Two recruiters
An admissions counselor
A financial aid counselor
An administrative employee


Twelve people from Finance, including:
Three building maintenance employees
Three human resources employees
A purchasing officer
A director of campus food services
A special projects engineer
A grants specialist
A travel director
An operations manager


Five people from the Division of Research, Innovation and Economic Development, including:
Two employees of the Picard Center for Child Development
An analyst for the Informatics Research Institute
An officer for the Louisiana Center for Health Innovation
A director of the National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies

Four people from the President’s Office, including:
Three employees of the Sustainability Office
An administrative assistant

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One person from the Auxiliary division was laid off: a director of the athletics business office.

The four people laid off from the Student Affairs division were all police officers.

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Other cost-cutting efforts include ending contracts with local hotels to house students, adjusting the campus shuttle system, restructuring graduation ceremonies into a single-day format, improving emergency efficiency and other measures that Hebert has not yet outlined.

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UL officials say their next goals are to address the remaining structural deficit and to tackle recurring debt of about $25 million.

“To do so, the university has established a target of $15 million in additional reductions over the coming months — enough to erase the remaining deficit and begin resolving the first $10 million of recurring debt,” a statement on the website said.

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