A surge in private giving plus savings reaped from the elimination of nearly 500 jobs have helped Duke University avoid layoffs while it inches closer to its goals for a smaller budget, President Richard Brodhead said Wednesday.
Duke is halfway through a three-year move to cut $100million from its annual operating budget, and it doesn't expect to offer a third buyout package to employees, Brodhead said in a meeting with News & Observer reporters and editors.
Brodhead said that though the staff reductions will force the university to re-prioritize at times, they represent a small fraction of the university's 12,000 workers. Those lost jobs will go largely unnoticed, he said.
"We had seen 9 percent annual growth year after year after year, so if there's a year when you have to pull back, I don't see that as apocalyptic," Brodhead said.
Duke's two retirement incentive programs proved popular; 382 employees took buyouts, and Duke eliminated all of their jobs.
In addition, the university reviewed vacant positions and eliminated about 100, said Kyle Cavanaugh, Duke's vice president for human resources.
Duke has also frozen salaries for the past two years, though it offered some employees $1,000 one-time payments that were not added to base salaries. The salary freeze saved a lot of jobs, Brodhead said.
"If we had given raises last year, something between 100 and 200 more positions would have had to be eliminated to pay for it," he said.
Private donations have helped carry Duke through the lean period; the university brought in $346 million last year, its third best annual take ever and a big jump from the $301 million brought in the previous year, Brodhead said.
Brodhead touched on several other topics as well. They include:
Anil Potti, the Dukeresearcher on administrative leave as medical school officials investigate questions raised by other cancer scientists about the veracity of his findings. Potti also apparently falsely claimed to be a Rhodes Scholar on applications for federal funding.
"Everything that has been alleged, we have taken quite seriously," Brodhead said. "At the same time, every allegation is not a truth."
Investigations are incomplete, and Potti is still on leave. Brodhead said he could not be more specific about the length or status of those investigations. Those who will look into questions about Potti's cancer research will not be Duke employees, he said.
Brodhead's future at Duke. Brodhead, 63, has been Duke's president since 2004 and said Wednesday that he has no plans to leave. "I would like to serve as president as long as I have the passion for it," he said. "I don't know how long that will be."
The growth of international students, who now make up about 8 percent of the undergraduate population.
"The world's a big place," he said. "More students in more places are looking for the best American universities. And we want to get our share of those."
