AMHERST, Mass. (AP) – In the midst of a fight to save its honors college, the University of Massachusetts was dealt another blow Wednesday when officials announced they planned to lay off 110 workers at the flagship campus.

“A university is essentially an organization of human capital,” said Chancellor John Lombardi in announcing the layoffs. “The people we can no longer sustain … are the greatest loss from a budget reduction of this unprecedented severity.”

The layoffs stretched across a wide range of workers from computer programers and electrical engineers to editors of campus publications, storekeepers and clerical workers, said Barbara Pitoniak, a university spokeswoman.

No faculty were let go, Lombardi said. He said the layoffs would save the university between $4.5 and $5 million and with unfilled vacancies the campus will have lost more than 210 state-funded jobs this year.

With the layoffs, Lombardi said he had cut university spending by about $21.5 million.

Lombardi also said Wednesday he’s restructuring some administrative positions. The deputy chancellor post, for instance, is being eliminated.

He has also said he would ask the trustees to let him increase student fees by $500 to $750 per semester.

The increase would be added to the $5,768 in fees already set for in-state students next year. Massachusetts residents also pay $1,714 in tuition. Out-of-state students will pay $9,937 in tuition and $6,398 in fees.

The state Legislature cut the campus’ state appropriation for the fiscal year that began Tuesday by about $41 million or nearly one-fifth. And Gov. Mitt Romney vetoed another $4.7 million, including the entire $1.7 million state appropriation for Commonwealth College.

The appropriation provides 90 percent of the operating budget for the honors program, with about 2,600 students, according to university spokesman Patrick Callahan.

The first class from the honors college, which opened in 1999, graduated in May.

Lombardi said the exact number of layoffs will depend in part on Legislative action on Romney’s vetoes. A two-thirds vote by both the state House and state Senate are needed to override.

Bob Connolly, a spokesman for university President William Bulger, said the governor’s veto of the honors college “suggests that there isn’t a place for high-end achievers in public higher education.”

Bulger, who has been an enthusiastic supporter of the honors program, “has made a direct personal appeal to leaders of the House and Senate,” to restore the funding, Connolly said.

Romney has been trying to eliminate Bulger’s job as university president and has called for Bulger’s resignation, but Connolly discounted the differences between the two men as a reason for the veto. Romney has said Bulger’s failure to assist law enforcement officials seeking his fugitive mobster brother makes it inappropriate for him to serve. The governor has not criticized Bulger’s work as UMass president, but has said the job should be eliminated to save money.

The governor favors the honors college program, but felt it shouldn’t receive a separate appropriation, said Shawn Feddeman, a spokeswoman for Romney.

“UMass has a large budget. If they choose to fund it, they have the resources to do so,” she said.

“The veto messages do not provide sufficient evidence to explain the Governor’s thinking on these issues and of course only the Governor can tell us what his intentions are,” Lombardi said. “We will wait for final legislative action before reacting.”

Alicia Lemieux, 21, of Rehoboth, told The Republican in Springfield that she decided to attend UMass so she could participate in the honors program.

“It’s a huge blow to the way the university will now look to incoming freshmen,” the mechanical engineering major said.

About 500 of the 4,400 incoming freshmen were expected to take part in the honors program, according to Linda Slake, the Commonwealth College dean.

Freshmen must have at east a 3.5 high school grade-point average, SAT scores of at least 1,300 and rank in the top 10 percent of their high school class to be eligible for Commonwealth College. To remain in the program students need to maintain a 3.2 grade point average.

AP-ES-07-02-03 1850EDT

Copy the Story Link