The University of Washington is laying off 66 employees in its technology department due to competition from free commercial Web-hosted services.
Free or cheap Web-hosted services, such as e-mail and document sharing from Google and Microsoft, are reportedly displacing the university’s tech services. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says the technology department, which supported itself by charging for its services, was operating at a $10-million annual loss. The department will retain 360 employees.
The Post-Intelligencer reports this as the largest round of layoffs at the university since November 1994, when 200 nontenured faculty and staff positions and several departments were eliminated to meet a budget cut set by Washington’s state legislature.—Catherine Rampell
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