University President John Welty's recent warnings about possible layoffs at Fresno State have faculty and administrators planning for the worst.

If California'a budget deficit saps operating revenue sufficiently at California State University, Fresno, not even full professors will enjoy absolute employment security, the union concedes.

John Travis, president of the California Faculty Association teaching union, said the first time he heard a CSU president refer to possible layoffs of tenure-track faculty was Jan. 21. That was when Welty said that he did not anticipate layoffs of tenured faculty in the immediate future. But neither then, nor when asked about the comment Friday, did he rule them out.

Tenure is supposed to protect a professor's position, but that hasn't always been the case.

Faculty members have not felt this much uncertainty since 1992, CFA officials say. The CFA is the main teaching union in the California State University system.

In 1992, 17 tenured faculty members received layoff notices at Fresno State. All but one were recalled before the layoffs took effect, said Thomas Ebert, associate vice president for personnel on campus. He is a former CFA chapter president.

Today, Fresno State and the rest of the CSU system face economic uncertainty as Gov. Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature struggle over the state budget deficit. The governor has proposed a $15 billion bond issue addressing the deficit. Voters will consider it March 2, and the election could determine whether faculty layoffs become necessary.

For now, Welty has told campus leadership to consider "consolidating or restructuring" departments and offices to reduce "duplication of services or programs." His words are consistent with language in the CFA's contract with the CSU system allowing faculty layoffs.

The contract says the need to lay off faculty "shall be determined by the employer," based on "whether there exists, on a particular campus, a lack of work or lack of funds or a programmatic change."

The union contract also prescribes the order of layoffs: part-time, temporary and then tenured faculty.

Deans at Fresno State have been told to cut their budgets by 7.5%, Ebert said. It is unknown how that reduction will translate into faculty positions.

Welty said Friday that he cannot go beyond tempered assurances to the faculty because the state's financial picture remains clouded. He said his Jan. 21 statement "assumes that the $15 billion [bond issue] will pass."

Some polls indicate that the bond measure could fail.

The prospect of layoffs at Fresno State and the CSU system concerns faculty but also students. Possible layoffs threaten further inconvenience for students who already complain of difficulty finding course offerings.

Worry about layoffs does not necessarily mean they will happen.

"There has been no layoff," Ebert said, "no notice of layoff and no notice prepared for any faculty member. Period."

If layoffs do occur, those who could lose teaching jobs, at least temporarily, include lecturers, who do not have tenure.

Welty has scheduled a campus "Budget Summit" on the confused faculty picture Thursday afternoon.

He said Friday that he cannot be more specific about layoffs because "it is an unknown at this point" and depends "on what the governor has proposed." If the $15 billion bond fails, "it's back to the drawing boards."