printable versionOffice of Public Affairs cuts budget; Stanford Report to cease publication
The Office of Public Affairs has announced plans to cease publication of the print edition of Stanford Report this summer and instead disseminate news through online communications—a decision that resulted in the layoffs of three members of the newspaper staff.
It was one of several cost-cutting moves the office made to reduce its general funds budget by 15 percent in 2010, as mandated by Stanford for all schools and units in response to the national recession and the steep decline in the university's endowment.
Fourteen people were affected by the cutbacks. Nine people were laid off, including three employees who volunteered to leave. Three vacant positions were eliminated. Two staff members will be working reduced schedules.
The Office of Public Affairs had about 55 full-time positions before the budget reductions.
The office coordinates and facilitates Stanford's relationships with neighboring communities; local, state and federal government; and the media and general public. It oversees Government and Community Relations, Stanford Events and University Communications, which includes campus communications, news and media relations, web communications and Stanford Video.
In an April 14 letter to the University Cabinet, David Demarest, vice president for public affairs, and Lisa Lapin, assistant vice president for university communications, said the office will save money and operate more efficiently by relying on electronic technologies to communicate with faculty and staff, and with the outside world.
"We are also working to be responsive to the needs articulated in our internal communication survey conducted this past winter, when the vast majority of faculty and staff (71 percent) told us they would prefer to receive their university news electronically," they wrote.
The first edition of Stanford Report, then known as Campus Report, made its debut in September 1968 as an eight-page weekly periodical for faculty and staff.
The university communications office already has begun making the transition from paper to online communications for some of its other publications.
"We have already shifted to a new online campus calendar and this spring we launched a well-received email newsletter to Stanford parents," Demarest and Lapin wrote. "We expect to debut an updated campus news Web site this summer as well. We know that many of your units depend upon Stanford Report for key communications to the campus, and we are confident that we will be able to continue to serve your needs in our updated electronic communications."