64 lecturer positions were cut to save money.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports:

Bergen Community College Cuts 64 Lecturer Positions to Save Money

Bergen Community College has cut 64 full-time lecturer positions in an effort to save money, The Record, a New Jersey newspaper, reports. The college says the move will save $934,000.

The college is asking the 64 lecturers to reapply for their jobs as adjuncts, who are paid $2,100 per course and don’t get benefits. Lecturers at the college, who teach roughly five courses per semester, are each paid a salary of $38,600 plus benefits.

The move follows the college’s decision this month to cut or reduce the hours of 150 staff members, which it says will save roughly $1 million.

“It has the potential to be a problem for class coverage,” said Tobyn Demarco, president of the college’s faculty union, of the cuts. “This is kind of late in the game in terms of the semester beginning.”

A spokesman for the college, Larry Hlavenka Jr., told The Record that the college was trying to keep tuition low while coping with less funding from the state.