Nearly 100 UC Riverside employees picketed outside Chancellor France Cordova's office Wednesday to protest campus layoff notices that went out this week.

Thirty staff research associates, who run campus research labs, received notices this week that they will likely lose their jobs come Aug. 1 because of state budget cuts. More layoffs are likely campuswide this summer.

Gov. Davis has proposed cutting $300 million from the University of California system next year, including a permanent reduction in research funds of $28.8 million.

The University Professional and Technical Employees union, which represents the researchers, had hoped the university would offer an early retirement program to avoid layoffs. Many research associates have been at UCR for more than 20 years.

"I've put in 23 years here," said Judy Szychowski, a researcher with the plant pathology department who received a layoff notice. "We're trying to get the chancellor to recognize what is happening and find funds for us."

UCR spokeswoman Kathleen Peach said Cordova spent all day Wednesday meeting with lawmakers in Sacramento trying to do just that. The chancellor's efforts were focused on saving agricultural research and campus jobs, Peach said.

The union's other suggestion, an early retirement program, would require approval by the University of California Office of the President, which oversees the 10-campus system. When asked about the status of the union's request, Peach referred to a question-and-answer fact sheet created by UCR.

According to the fact sheet, the university cannot consider voluntary early retirement because it would put too great of a strain on its retirement system and could cause an employee shortage when more people must be hired to deal with enrollment growth.

Peach said by telephone that researchers who have not been given layoff notices are now being paid through other sources, such as grants.

That makes researchers nervous about whether their jobs will be there in the future.

"We seem to have taken a harder hit than everybody," said Samuel Roberts, a researcher with the plant pathology department. "My mortgage is not going to go away. My kids are not going to go away. They should give us something other than pink slips."

Protesters also criticized The Press-Enterprise for its coverage of the layoffs, saying the paper has put a positive spin on the issue to make Cordova look good. Cordova recently was elected to the board of directors of the Belo Corp., parent company of The Press-Enterprise.

A story in Tuesday's Press-Enterprise stated that 27 out of 150 research associates had received layoff notices. Cliff Fried, executive vice president of the statewide University Professional and Technical Employees union, said the story made it sound like the workers are lucky more weren't let go.

Chris Benoit, a representative of the Coalition of University Employees union for clerical staff, offered another option, as well. She said the campus could save money if it would go after the administrative ranks first.

"This has to stop," Benoit said. "You want layoffs? Start laying off at the top."