TALLADEGA – Talladega College President Dr. Billy C. Hawkins announced Friday the college has begun a major downsizing of its workforce.The reduction takes away about 12 percent of the college’s workforce. Hawkins said the decision was difficult, but it was necessary for the future success of the college.
“I’ve been here over a month and after taking a good look at the college, I saw we had too many employees when we only have 311 students,” he said. “When you have a payroll that’s quite hefty, nearly $500,000 a month, there’s not much of a choice.”
Hawkins said the cuts would save the college nearly $300,000 a year, and he they would not have to go any deeper in the future, but they could.
“The board hired me to do a job. As a private college president, I have to pay close attention to our main sources of revenue. One is student enrollment. Two is fundraising. The fundraising has to pick up, but that’s not going to happen overnight.
“Any businessman can tell you, something probably should have been looked at a while ago, but I can’t speak for prior administrations. The numbers just don’t work,” he said.
Hawkins said the current budget and payroll would be in line for a college with 800 students. He said the college’s Board of Trustees gave him full support on this decision.
Hawkins said he did not target a specific area for cuts but made the cuts in several departments, such as food service and admissions. The move will help Talladega College meet its budget objectives for the fiscal year.
“We will never sacrifice education. We have not cut any faculty members and student services will not be reduced,” Hawkins said. He said the remaining employees will pick up the slack for the staff who were let go.
Hawkins said he had a meeting with all the employees after he arrived on campus and warned them the cuts in staff would be coming because there was simply not enough money.
He said this was an unfortunate but necessary step in moving the college forward. “We’re going to provide the highest customer service to our students here. They were concerned about dorms and food service, and we’re giving those our full attention.”
Keeping students satisfied will help increase enrollment in the future, which will also bring in more funding with tuition, Hawkins said.
“I am so excited about the community’s reaction to what we’re doing over here and initiating lending their support,” he said. “We’ve had city councilmen, businessmen and businesswomen, and even local clergy come and offer to lend their support.”
