UC Santa Barbara is reducing custodial and groundskeeping services as the university seeks to save money because of cuts in state funding.
While cleaning restrooms will remain a priority, some daily cleaning duties in classrooms, lobbies, hallways and break rooms have been reduced to once or twice a week.
For groundskeeping services, daily litter pickup has been reduced to three times a week, and emptying trash bins will be done “as resources allow.”
The service reductions come after UCSB administrators were asked to plan for significant and permanent spending cuts earlier this year because of ongoing budget shortfalls.
Former Chancellor Henry Yang announced in March that departments were asked to reduce operational costs 10% to 12.95% as the university would no longer be receiving $24 million in state funding.
UCSB spokeswoman Kiki Reyes said the service changes did not lead to a reduction in regular hours for employees, and no filled positions were eliminated.
Todd Stenhouse, a spokesman for AFSCME 3299, the union that represents custodians, groundskeepers, security officers, health care technicians and others across the University of California system, said the reductions are consistent with an ongoing staffing crisis.
Stenhouse said that, with low pay and high housing costs, the UC system hasn’t been able to fill open custodial and groundskeeping positions, leaving existing staff to “do more with less.”
He added that despite the challenges, employees are working hard to serve students and keep campuses clean and healthy.
Many janitorial tasks were reduced in frequency, such as mopping floors of classrooms and laboratories, taking out trash from campus buildings, and cleaning glass doors and drinking fountains.
Additionally, some plant landscapes will be converted to mulch to save on watering plants, and weekly cleaning of pavement will be reduced to twice a month, according to UCSB’s Design, Facility, and Safety Services.
Click here to read the full list of custodial and groundskeeping service changes.
Recent budget cuts also led UCSB leaders to reduce library hours. The campus library was previously open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, but now the library is open only from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m.
The library also will now be closed on university holidays, including Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Cesar Chavez Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day and Labor Day.
Over the summer, the Daily Nexus reported that the university was closing the physical therapy department, laying off two physical therapists and referring students to off-campus providers.
