Faced with mounting budget challenges, St. Louis University announced on Friday that it will terminate 23 staff positions and freeze another 130 current vacancies.The news came in a letter from St. Louis University President Fred Pestello that was reported by the student newspaper, the University News. Of the 130 unfilled lines that will be frozen, 30 involve teaching positions across several departments, according to the paper.The news was not unexpected. University officials have warned the campus throughout the year that its expenses were outpacing revenues and that it would be necessary to reduce spending to get the budget back into alignment. To do so, they indicated they would increase distributions from the university’s $1.8 billion endowment and reduce current year expenses by about 4%.
