Almost two years ago, former Ohio University President Robert Glidden implemented a hiring freeze to help OU become a more cost-efficient institution, said Jim Kemper, assistant vice president for administration for human resources.
But OU President Roderick McDavis said the continuation of the freeze is currently up for review.
The Athens and all regional campus freeze, implemented on Feb. 17, 2003, stopped recruiting for administrative and classified (hourly) positions.
But, the university formed The Executive Officer Employment Committee to review proposals of certain jobs. Such proposals might include merging positions or not hiring after an employee retires.
The committee comprises four administrators and an adviser -Bill Smith, executive assistant to the president for institutional equity; Kathy Krendl, OU's interim provost; Larry Corrigan, interim vice president for finance and administration; John Burns, director of legal affairs; and Kemper.
It was formed in an effort to recognize circumstances were different and to come up with procedures to protect OU from the unknown or unforeseen financial situations
Smith said.
For example, when an administrator retires, OU typically finds a replacement, Kemper said. But the hiring freeze causes a re-evaluation of the necessity of the position.
This is a soft hiring freeze Kemper said. There is a still a continuum of hires but we have changed what used to be routine.
Since the EOEC started meeting in 2003, it has designated 22 specific deans, vice presidents and college department heads to think more strategically about their respective hiring processes
Kemper said.
In the past two years, the freeze has reduced the administrative head count by about 120, saving OU $4 million in payroll costs, Kemper said.
But McDavis said he cannot sense that we have left ourselves vulnerable by cutting these positions. Have we damaged the quality of our product? I hope not.
Possible freeze changes are being discussed, such as a hiring freeze including faculty, but no decisions have been made, McDavis said.
It was a great decision by Dr. Glidden (to implement the freeze) ... but we want to look at 'is a freeze the best way to handle our budgetary concerns?' he said. Glidden could not be reached for comment.
If changes are made to the freeze, those changes will be implemented for six months to a year to evaluate its effectiveness, McDavis said. Decisions on the freeze will be made during the next two weeks.
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Ashley Venzel
