CORRECTION AND CLARIFICATION APPENDED

In the wake of economic tumult that has left Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences with a projected $220 million budget deficit, a diverse slate of student jobs will be eliminated next year as part of larger cost-cutting measures, leaving undergraduates with more limited options for term-time employment.

Last month, Dean of the Faculty Michael D. Smith released a sweeping list of cuts—which trimmed services at campus cafés and libraries and reduced print publication offerings—to close $77 million of this gap. Further belt-tightening measures have been released by Houses and individual units within FAS.

At present, data from the College’s Student Employment Office indicates that between 65 and 80 percent of students received at least one paycheck from the University or an off-campus work-study job last year.

While there are currently about 65 confirmed job cuts, some of which have not been directly linked to cost-saving measures, this number could increase as the administration attempts to account for the remaining $143 million over the next two years.

While the final scale and impact of job reductions remain to be seen, concerns are growing among students, who cite on-campus jobs as a critical means of fulfilling student contribution requirements for tuition.

CONFIRMED CUTS

On May 5, Harvard College Library officials announced that the Quad library would be closed next year as a cost-cutting measure and would instead be reapportioned as a social space. Six days later, the larger cuts package was announced, including the closure of the Penthouse Coffee Bar at the Student Organization Center at Hilles.

According to a Quad Library employee, who wished to remain anonymous to preserve his relationship with the College, 12 students were employed there this semester; the Penthouse Coffee Bar employed eight students at the beginning of last semester, says Cafe Manager Charlie R. Ryland ’09.

Student jobs may be slashed in House libraries and the Writing Center as well.

As Houses seek to realign their budgets for next year, several of the libraries have implemented new policies to reduce personnel or are considering them for the future.

The Crimson reported in April that Kirkland House library cut three student positions, while Quincy House implemented a new electronic access system to reduce the need for employees. In addition, Mather House library may also reduce its number of employees in the future, according to library tutor Joseph S. Ronayne ’92.

Hiring at the Harvard College Writing Center was “extremely tight” for next semester, according to Writing Center employee Eva Z. Lam ’10. Lam says that new rules were also implemented mandating that only two students may be working there at once. Previously, three students were allowed to be on duty at the same time. [SEE CORRECTION AND CLARIFICATION BELOW]

And as the University scaled back on printed materials, the College’s Q Guide for course evaluations cut its student staff in April—a measure that meant the loss of 16 jobs, according to former systems analyst Douglas R. Lloyd ’09.

The single largest confirmed reduction is from the Information Technology division, which will cut up to 25 undergraduate positions as User Assistants, though FAS IT Senior Client Technology Advisor Noah S. Selsby ’95 says the cuts were not a result of the University’s cost-saving measures.

Selsby says that the cuts would be achieved through a combination of hiring fewer students next year and not renewing all contracts for current UAs.

INDIGNATION, OPTIMISM

In response to fewer job openings on campus, students have voiced concern for individuals who rely on their income for both tuition requirements and basic needs.

Ryland points out that many students on financial aid have no alternative way of paying the student contribution of their tuition—which totaled $3000 last year, according to Student Employment Office data—if they cannot find employment on campus.

“For people on the most financial aid, to have jobs cut isn’t like, ‘Dangit, I can’t go out and buy beer,’” Ryland says. “Instead, it’s ‘I’m not gonna buy books for one of my four classes.”

According to Student Labor Action Movement member Alyssa M. Aguilera ’09, international students are especially disadvantaged, as many have work permits that restrict their ability to seek employment.

“I know that it’s more difficult, because they can only work on campus,” she says. “To the administration, student jobs are kind of superfluous, but a lot of people need them.”

Aguilera adds that SLAM—which has focused its protest and advocacy mainly on potential permanent employee layoffs this year—may move to address the loss of student jobs next year.

Meg Brooks Swift, director of the SEO, voices a more positive outlook for student employment, saying that increased hiring for off-campus jobs could help offset changes in on-campus employment.

“We see a lot of off-campus jobs, and right now the trends don’t indicate that there will be a shift, even in this economy,” Brooks Swift says. “We are optimistic that there will be enough positions so that all students who want to work can work.”

SAFE HAVENS

Despite the economic climate, student jobs in teaching positions, the undergraduate admissions office, and the Institute of Politics all appear to be safe for next year.

According to Assistant Dean of the College Logan S. McCarty, undergraduate employment as course assistants is unlikely to change drastically, despite a cost-saving initiative announced in May that will cut eight to ten percent of all section leaders for the next school year.

McCarty writes in an e-mail that the planned reductions would mostly affect teaching assistants from outside of Harvard, and that any cuts to CA employment would be roughly the same size as usual yearly fluctuations in hiring. Approximately 250 CAs are hired each semester, according to McCarty.

Teachers and administrators in several departments also confirmed that they would not be reducing undergraduate employment. Computer Science 50 Professor David J. Malan ’99 says he plans to hire the same number of students this year as last year, while Chair of the Mathematics Department Shing-Tung Yau says he had not been informed of any need to cut undergraduate instructors.

Student employment also appears to be stable in the admissions office and the IOP.

Marlyn E. McGrath, the College’s director of admissions, says that she anticipates no change in business volume for her department, and that the level of student staffing would therefore also remain unvaried.

IOP Communications Director Esten Perez also says that there was no anticipated need for a reduction in student staffing.

“The Institute has not planned or budgeted for reductions in student work opportunities during the summer or regular school year of FY 10,” he says.

—Staff writer Evan T. R. Rosenman can be reached at erosenm@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION AND CLARIFICATION

The June 4 news article "Students Feel the Pinch" incorrectly implied that the fact that a smaller number of student tutors were hired at the Writing Center resulted from a reduction in the Center's budget. In fact, the reduction in new hires only reflected a smaller number of tutors graduating that particular year, according to Writing Center Director Jane Rosenzweig, who said there are no plans to reduce the budget for tutors at the Writing Center.

In addition, the article also incorrectly stated that a new rule had been implemented at the Writing Center mandating that only two students work there at a time, based on information from a student tutor there who later said her statement resulted from a misinterpretation. In fact, no such rule was put in place, and the Center has no plans to cut student hours, according to Rosenzweig.