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> If a tech company has to make rapid cuts, it will lay off engineers. This is basically the same situation. Eh, maybe. Part of me thinks this is making a spec
by xienze 2y ago
> If a tech company has to make rapid cuts, it will lay off engineers. This is basically the same situation.
Eh, maybe. Part of me thinks this is making a spectacle out of having to tighten up the finances.
I’m reminded of when I was in school many years ago at a state university. The state called for a 2% budget cut. Or in other words, going back to what the budget was a year or two prior. The administration went on and on about how there was absolutely no fat to cut and started making loud public statements about how they would “need” to do ridiculous things like cut the number of offered sections for undergrad mathematics courses by 15%, eliminate the music department, etc. They whipped the students into a frenzy and the whole thing culminated with a protest march down to the capitol building, and the state relented.
- jltsiren 2y agoA nominal 2% budget cut is a 5-6% real cut, assuming average wage growth and inflation. And if that cut meant going back to where the budget was 1-2 years earlier, the university had already faced effective budget cuts over those years.
- xienze 2y agoYou’re missing the bigger point, that the cuts they proposed in response were far beyond what would be necessary for such a small budget cut. To say nothing of the fact that they immediately jumped to making highly disruptive cuts (like an entire department) instead of even considering things like cutting admin roles or creature comforts (which had grown like crazy in the years prior) first.