CSU is certainly not the first organisation to find savings through a restructure - and it won’t be the last. And if that’s what it takes to ensure the university’s long-term sustainability, then the  community should support the move - if a little grudgingly.

What does disappoint, though, is the creative accounting the university appears to be applying to the discussion of just how many jobs will be lost.

It is believed the restructure will result in 247 positions “disestablished”, while 233 positions will be required once the restructure is in place.

Simple maths tells us that is a loss of 14 jobs, and that is the number being pushed by university hierarchy.

But it is now clear that the actual number of job losses will be much higher than that as dozens of casual staff across CSU campuses have been told there will be no work for them.

And even after direct questioning about just how many casuals will be affected, the university is reluctant to give a concrete figure, instead saying that “the most recent statistics [show] there are only approximately 50 full-time equivalent general casual positions across the four faculties”.

Just how many people that represents, though, remains unanswered as one full-time equivalent position could be filled by one, two or even three actual employees working reduced hours each week.

Suddenly the 14 job losses could blow out to 60, 80 or even 100 employees - and that is a number that would have an impact on the communities where CSU is a major employer, including Orange.

Worse, the reluctance to acknowledge the impact of those job losses is an insult to the casual staff currently filling those roles, effectively telling them they do not count as CSU staff.

It is never easy to handle the loss of jobs within an organisation, but honesty and transparency should always be the priorities.

We’re not sure CSU has earned a pass mark in this instance.