By Anne Ryman
The Arizona Republic
The Arizona Board of Regents is considering a change that would allow the state’s universities to create a new class of at-will employees, meaning staff in non-academic positions could be fired at any time.
The controversial proposal could mean less job security beginning July 1 for about 3,000 employees at Arizona State University, the state’s largest public university. University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University have no immediate plans to create a new employment classification.
On Tuesday, a regents committee voted to forward the proposal to the board, which will consider it during its February meeting. The change would apply to about a third of ASU’s benefits-eligible employees: 3,000 service professionals and 90 non-faculty administrators. Examples of service professionals include managers, accountants, attorneys, financial analysts, physicians and computer systems programmers. The policy wouldn’t apply to faculty.
The proposal states that a new employment classification called “university staff” would be created “for use at the discretion of the university and board presidents.” Employees in this category would be employed “at will and have no expectation of continued employment.”
