CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia State University has fired 10 employees and is considering more cost-saving measures.

School officials announced the layoffs earlier this month and also eliminated 15 already vacant positions.

WVSU spokeswoman Kimberly Osborne said the terminations are a direct response to a budget summit held in November that recommended several ways the school could cut costs and generate revenue.

One of those recommendations was, in the words of the budget summit, “potential personnel adjustments to ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness of university operations,” and is the cause for the terminations, Osborne said.

“This is the first look at this efficiency. There are other efficiencies that may result in — and may impact — how our staffing is going forward. But this is what is happening now,” Osborne said.

WVSU currently employs about 340 faculty and staff members, with a student population of about 2,500.

The budget summit included WVSU administrators, faculty, staff and students, Osborne said.

Other recommendations include renting campus space to outside businesses, reducing energy and paper record-keeping costs and combining various departments within the university to eliminate redundancies.

The state’s higher education budget was cut by 3.75 percent this year…