The Scientist: NewsBlog:
Cancer center fires researchers
Posted by Elie Dolgin
[Entry posted at 13th March 2009 10:23 PM GMT]
Facing budget cuts of around $34 million, Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY, laid off 24 of its staff scientists last week.
Roswell Park cut the jobs -- which were funded by state money -- as part of a strategic realignment to pay for researchers' salaries through soft-money grants and contracts, according to Buffalo's Business First newspaper. The firings were one of many actions the institute is taking to make up for the $34 million hole in its $514 million annual operating budget, a shortfall that arose because of state funding cuts and wage increases. "Layoffs are never easy," Roswell Park's president and CEO Donald Trump told The Scientist. "But this is a very tough budgetary season and we, like others, have had to make some hard decisions." Trump noted that some of the fired researchers could be hired back if new grant money becomes available through either the stimulus package or the NIH's recent budgetary increase. "Those people would be welcome to apply," he said. Several of Roswell Park's core research services, including confocal microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, were staffed solely by those just given the boot and will no longer be available, Cheri Frank, a prostate cancer research associate who was given the pink slip, told The Scientist. Frank also noted that "some of the people who were laid off do have grant funding," and it's not clear if they'll be able to complete their research projects. "That's part of the problem," she said. "They just abolished these positions." Trump refuted this claim, saying that the fired staff members were "absolutely not" independent researchers, and no ongoing research projects will be jeopardized by the action. Related stories: [28th January 2009] [4th December 2008] [6th March 2006] |
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Roswell's sharp decline in US News Ranking of Cancer Hospitals
by anonymous poster
[Comment posted 2009-03-19 13:52:17]
[Comment posted 2009-03-19 13:52:17]
Interesting comparison with Roswell Park's decline after 2000 in its ranking by US News for top 50 cancer hospitals. 1993, 10; 1994, 5; 1996, 12; 1997, 14; 1998, 11; 1999, 10; 2000, 9; 2001, 17; 2002, 37; 2003, 33; 2004, unranked; 2005, 40; 2006, unranked; 2007, unranked; 2008, unranked. Are the leaders there asleep, or just incompetent?
Salk Institute: Fire!
by anonymous poster
[Comment posted 2009-03-19 12:06:25]
[Comment posted 2009-03-19 12:06:25]
Here at Salk Institute, La Jolla CA, we also have the similiar moves.
Because of the financial crisis, the endowment funds went down. The COO wants to take ALL the rest of money from the endowments without prior discussion with endowed professors (yes, they are not just junior professors!).
The endowments were not even raised by the administratives, most of them were from the professors' own patents.
The postdocs and techs got the pink slips..
All the ongoing researches are now all stopped.
Several labs have to be closed down (will not be functional) even though they have another R01 grants (not enough money!!).
Oh well.. at least, we are not walked out with guards..
Because of the financial crisis, the endowment funds went down. The COO wants to take ALL the rest of money from the endowments without prior discussion with endowed professors (yes, they are not just junior professors!).
The endowments were not even raised by the administratives, most of them were from the professors' own patents.
The postdocs and techs got the pink slips..
All the ongoing researches are now all stopped.
Several labs have to be closed down (will not be functional) even though they have another R01 grants (not enough money!!).
Oh well.. at least, we are not walked out with guards..
Donald Trump?
by anonymous poster
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 16:21:37]
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 16:21:37]
Is this the same Donald Trump who shouts, "You're fired!", in a popular TV show? Anyway, how sad and degrading something like this happens. But, it's America, afterall, where employees are treated more like costly capitals than people - and expandable capitals at that.
It is not the walking, but who walked that matters
by BRADLEY ANDRESEN
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 14:46:30]
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 14:46:30]
The most glaring problem in this action is that the people who run the cores at Roswell. This will only hurt the institution in the long run. Perhaps all those using NMR and confocal have their own equipment but I doubt that.
A similar move was made years ago at a major institution, and it was noted that for all of the staff fired (in this case assistant librarians that deal directly with students) the savings equaled one of the minor deans. As a lower paid university employee, I know there are members of the university that would only need to take a 10% pay cut to pay for my salary, and I make more than those described in this story. I believe these (and many other) actions are not aligned with the stated mission of an academic institution.
A similar move was made years ago at a major institution, and it was noted that for all of the staff fired (in this case assistant librarians that deal directly with students) the savings equaled one of the minor deans. As a lower paid university employee, I know there are members of the university that would only need to take a 10% pay cut to pay for my salary, and I make more than those described in this story. I believe these (and many other) actions are not aligned with the stated mission of an academic institution.
Workers fired at The Jackson Lab, too
by GREG CHRISTIANSON
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 12:28:21]
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 12:28:21]
Everyone here was shocked when 55 workers were escorted off campus without warning last Thursday, March 12th. This institution has a close knit community of workers, which made the action very difficult to understand. The "restructuring" effected support personnel and scientific services, not grant supported researchers, and was an action to eliminate those positions. It mostly effected workers with 15 - 25 years of employment, possibly to get the biggest gain for least number of individuals fired, but a tremendous amount of experience is now lost, too. Everyone wishes the "cuts" could have been done with more respect.
It started at financial institutions
by Ellen Hunt
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 12:05:17]
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 12:05:17]
30 years ago, I worked for a bank in data processing. It was standard policy then to escort people out when laid off or fired in a surprise move. The idea was to prevent the odd disgruntled employee from doing something nefarious to the bank.
Things used to happen. A man who was fired broke the glass on a fire-axe and then chopped his way through the wall to bypass the mantrap that went into the computer center. He attacked a mainframe with the fire-axe after he got through. Security came and shot him, but not fatally.
In science it's kind of stupid. Worst I knew about was a post-doc who took all her records with her and destroyed all her samples when she was fired from a lab. I was on her side for that one. Her P.I. was a real piece of work who specialized in stealing research from anyone he could. Women have gotten the short end of that more than men have, although I know it happens to men regularly too.
The policy of walk-them-off-premises is probably one of those dingbat things that personnel directors are paid to come up with to justify their existence. It's stupid in science.
Things used to happen. A man who was fired broke the glass on a fire-axe and then chopped his way through the wall to bypass the mantrap that went into the computer center. He attacked a mainframe with the fire-axe after he got through. Security came and shot him, but not fatally.
In science it's kind of stupid. Worst I knew about was a post-doc who took all her records with her and destroyed all her samples when she was fired from a lab. I was on her side for that one. Her P.I. was a real piece of work who specialized in stealing research from anyone he could. Women have gotten the short end of that more than men have, although I know it happens to men regularly too.
The policy of walk-them-off-premises is probably one of those dingbat things that personnel directors are paid to come up with to justify their existence. It's stupid in science.
Cancer research firings
by null null
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 11:45:34]
[Comment posted 2009-03-16 11:45:34]
I could never understand the need to "physically walk employees" off site. You are thought to be a valued member of the company and then you are treated like a criminal !!! I would never go back to a place that treated me like that.
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