After criticizing the UW System in recent weeks for trying to fill numerous job openings during a state budget crisis, an Eau Claire legislator plans to discuss the dilemma with Chancellor Donald Mash tonight on Wisconsin Public Radio.

State Rep. Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, who is chairman of the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee, is scheduled to be on WPR’s “The West Side” regional call-in program (WUEC 89.7 FM), starting at 5 p.m.

Mash, Chippewa Valley Technical College President Bill Ihlenfeldt and Rep. Larry Balow, D-Eau Claire, also will be on the program hosted by WPR’s Mary Jo Wagner.

The guests will discuss the potential cuts Eau Claire faces as well as Kreibich’s recent comments on the hiring situation within the System, Wagner said.

According to a Jan. 17 Leader-Telegram article, Kreibich wrote a letter in mid-January to the secretary of the Department of Administration addressing the hiring issue. Kreibich questioned how the System is trying to fill “hundreds of job openings” when the state faces a potential $4 billion deficit.

In the letter, Kreibich used UW-Eau Claire’s current search for an associate vice chancellor for Student Development and Diversity as an example. The position is a newly titled version of the dean of students, which the current dean, Ann Lapp, plans to retire from this spring, Eau Claire Provost Ron Satz said.

“It was surprising to me that anyone would single that (position) out,” Satz said, while noting that maybe Kreibich didn’t understand the job’s responsibilities.

Kreibich, who could not be reached for comment over the weekend, said in the Leader-Telegram article that he does not want the System to fill positions and then have to lay off those people when budget cuts are in place.

While noting that he understands the need to replace faculty, Kreibich said he is most concerned with state universities hiring administrators. He would like to wait a biennium to fill “some of these $80,000 positions,” the article stated.

The open associate vice chancellor job is one of those positions, Satz said.

It “was absolutely nonsense” that Kreibich suggest that position go unfilled, Satz said. The job is critical to the campus, he said, as it handles a variety of student-related areas, such as Counseling Services and Health Services.

Kreibich’s comments are concerning, Satz said, because they make Wisconsin seem like a non-option to potential job candidates. Eau Claire is not ready yet to bring candidates for the dean’s position to the campus, Satz said.

The need to fill positions has been a common problem all over the System the past few years, Satz said.

“We are not filling all vacancies that exist,” Satz said.

“You have to make decisions.”

Gov. Jim Doyle gave a State of the State address Thursday night but will not provide specific proposals for the 2003-05 state budget until Feb. 18. However, Doyle recently called for a special legislative session to cut an emergency $161 million from the state budget, which includes a call for a 5-percent reduction in administrative spending within the System.

If the university cannot fill its “critical” vacancies, Satz said,”we’re crippled.”

He said he hopes tonight’s radio program will improve the sharing of information between local legislators and university officials.

Satz said: “There’s a lot at stake here.”