TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The cuts continue at Cal State Bakersfield, this time in the form of eliminating and reshuffling of various management jobs in the Athletics and University Advancement departments, saving $240,000.

CSUB President Horace Mitchell Wednesday morning announced the changes as the university chisels away at a projected $4 million deficit for next school year. Even more cuts and tuition increases could be down the line, but for now decisions include:

* A senior associate athletics director job, held by now-retired Gloria Friedman for 38 years, changing from a management position to a staff post at a lower salary, saving $30,000. A search is under way to fill that job, which depending on experience could pay about $70,000, a spokesman said.

* A management job in the athletics development department being cut with a staff member taking that job at a lower salary, saving $40,000.

* Beverly Byl, the vice president for university advancement, stepping down. She will now be executive director of government and foundation relations, replacing a soon-to-be vacant director of foundation relations job.

The move saves about $100,000. Her new salary will be "significantly less" than her previous salary of $190,000, but how much was not disclosed by CSUB.

Byl's change was by "mutual agreement," Mitchell said, adding asking employees to take lower-paying jobs is a "tough decision." The reorganizations will take effect Aug. 1, but transitions will start immediately.

Besides working with the CSUB Foundation, Byl will work with state and federal elected officials, and University of California and state community college leaders, on funding issues.

On her job change, Byl said, "The budget forces us to make changes and decisions that we would not necessarily make otherwise."

Byl's previous job will be left empty for six months. Officials will decide after that whether to start a national search to fill that job, or fill it with an interim replacement.

Staff who before reported to Byl will now be directly under Soraya Coley, provost and vice president of academic affairs. That department will focus on fundraising for programs and scholarships.

In other changes, the public affairs and communications division will now report to Mitchell instead of the University Advancement office.

Mitchell's announcement came a month after a campus-wide budget forum in which he spelled out shares of potential cuts to CSUB programs, schools and departments. In it, for example, he said athletics would take a $145,000 cut, or about 8.8 percent.

Mitchell said Wednesday women's golf and tennis programs -- currently self-supported because they were cut last year along with two other sports -- have failed to fundraise enough to stay alive past the 2011-12 school year.

"It is possible those sports could be discontinued after 2011-12 since there will be no campus funding available," Mitchell said.

The athletics fundraising staff, before under Athletics and University Advancement, will now report to Athletics Director Jeff Konya.

The changes also come two weeks after Mitchell announced the cutting of four management jobs from one of the university's four divisions: University Advancement, Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Business and Administrative Services. That saved $440,000 in salaries and benefits.

Mitchell also said CSUB "absolutely needs to continue looking" at ways to close the $4 million gap.

In all, the California State University system is being hit with a $650 million cut next school year. It could lose another $100 million from the state if anticipated state revenues don't materialize, a CSUB spokesman said.

That means that at CSUB -- and Bakersfield College, too -- students suffer more fee increases, as high as 32 percent. Student fees are already planned to be increased by 10 percent CSU system-wide. At BC, that could translate to a $10 increase at BC, to $46 a unit.

For CSUB athletics, Konya said it is being hit with a "double whammy," as CSUB will have to pick up fee increases for student scholarships.

Furloughs and faculty layoffs are not being planned as of now, officials said.

CSU trustees will meet in mid-July to discuss cuts and potential fee increases, officials said.

Last year, CSUB had to make up for a $6.4 million shortfall. The year before it was hit with $8 million in cuts. Mitchell on Wednesday called continued cuts to higher education, especially in Bakersfield, "catastrophic to the economy."

Still, he said, CSUB will continue to work to serve students and the community, and asked media to not "simply focus on the negative."

"CSUB is still 'your university'," he said, reiterating CSUB's slogan.