Furloughs?

[att_mtt]

Are any colleges/universities putting their staff/faculty on furlough yet?

[Larimar]

Yep. Just heard that OnlyGameInTown Community College is beginning the process, though of course they're not using the word furlough. As an adjunct, I expect that means I'm toast. Once I hear it officially, this will mean I'm out of the profession - I call my CC OnlyGameInTown quite deliberately, and I am geographically immobile.

Looks like I need to practice saying "Do you want fries with that?"

:(

Larimar

[eigen]

University of Arizona announced them earlier today: https://tucson.com/news/local/furloughs-and-pay-cuts-set-for-staff-faculty-at-university-of-arizona/article_dce97fc4-80d3-11ea-902a-0b4e9cb1e449.html

Wisconsin system as well: https://apnews.com/538094a078d8f5a7a8c433aec68658eb

The ones I've been seeing so far are weighted with the higher salaries getting more significant cuts/furloughs, with lower cuts as salary decreases.

[spork]

Yes. So far it's been limited to food service, janitorial, etc. staff. I'd like to see some VPs, AVPs, etc. added to the list.

[downer]

https://www.kgun9.com/news/coronavirus/uarizona-announces-pay-cuts-furloughs-for-all-faculty-staff

[jimbogumbo]

Sorry for the double. Just put this on Colleges in Dire... before I saw this thread.

Valparaiso:  https://www.nwitimes.com/news/valparaiso-university-furloughs-200-employees-president-to-take-30-pay-cut-in-covid-19-reductions/article_38544283-26d4-53b6-a7ef-3a4314fc5b21.html

:edit: Made the link clickable

[RatGuy]

Student workers were furloughed first, since many of them didn't return home when the university closed (we have a high out-of-state population).

My wife is a staff member, and her job can't easily be done remotely. She was first afraid she'd be furloughed, then they asked staff to come in in staggered rotations. They've also asked staff to do online learning modules when a) they would have been working b) but asked not to come in. It's a way for HR to fudge the numbers a bit, demonstrating that everyone is "working from home."

She's also heard through the grapevine that the library staff have been asked to voluntarily furlough, as the Dean of Libraries doesn't want to open anything until June 22. This doesn't jibe with what official communication from my college has been, so we don't know how reliable that information is.

[jimbogumbo]

Miami Ohio cutting 50% VAP positions: https://www.miamistudent.net/article/2020/04/miami-planning-faculty-position-cuts-increasing-teaching-loads

:edit: Making the hyperlink clickable

[Hegemony]

Yes, we furloughed several hundreds of staff who worked on the dorms and food service.

Furloughs for faculty are now being discussed contentiously. Contentiously because the people hired to oversee athletics, who are paid much more than the rest of us, are not to be included.

[Parasaurolophus]

Not quite furloughs, but Minnesota State Moorhead is cutting ten majors, and axing 3 admins, 20.5 staff, and 43 faculty (including tenured faculty).

[mahagonny]

Miami Ohio cutting 50% VAP positions: https://www.miamistudent.net/article/2020/04/miami-planning-faculty-position-cuts-increasing-teaching-loads

:edit: Making the hyperlink clickable

So they'll be rid of the adjuncts. This is what everyone wants isn't it? Now the courses will finally be taught properly.

[pgher]

Some years ago at a different institution, there were faculty furloughs. The rule was that on furlough days, we could not use university resources. However, all classes had to be taught and basically we couldn't do anything that would impact students. What do other colleges do?

[polly_mer]

Some years ago at a different institution, there were faculty furloughs. The rule was that on furlough days, we could not use university resources. However, all classes had to be taught and basically we couldn't do anything that would impact students. What do other colleges do?

We took furlough days between terms when we were on contract, but not teaching.  I remember one term where we were told explicitly to get our grades in as quickly as possible and then take furlough days to finish out the month.

[jerseyjay]

My school has not yet announced furloughs, although there is an expectation that it might. Already the state has discussed furloughing most state workers. There has been nothing announced about faculty, yet. It is hard to say how much of this is real, and how much of it is pressure tactics to get more money from Washington. And the state right now seems to be most occupied with the disease itself, rather than the budget.

In the wake of the 2008 crisis, there were furloughs here. It was in essence just a pay cut: we were supposed to pick X number of days per semester and not work on them, hence not receive pay for them. However, they could not be days in which we had class, or committee meetings. And we still had to get grades in on at the same time, and research and service obligations were not cut. So of course what most people did is continue the same amount of work as usual, and just pick random days. So same amount of work, less pay.

Office staff (who are generally paid much less than faculty) and professional staff (e.g., librarians) actually did not show up on their furlough days, which, at least in theory, meant they did no work.

In terms of adjuncts, I am not so sure how this will affect them. On the one hand, it is always cheaper to hire an adjunct than a full-timer. Although for now all new hires are going through, there had already been a slowing of searches before all this happened.

In 2009, the school did not lay off most of the adjuncts (although if I remember scheduled raises were cancelled). However, now the president has said that adjuncts and student workers are the two parts of the budget that easiest to cut (travel, sabbaticals, and office supplies) having already been cut before this crisis).

Furloughs would be decided at a system (state) wide level, while adjunct cuts would be decided in response to more immediate budget concerns, probably having to do with enrollment figures (which won't be known until classes start, so there may be some adjuncts who are expecting a course next semester only to have it cancelled at the last minute).

So we are all in a suspended state of dreaded anticipation.

[namazu]

From Johns Hopkins: https://hub.jhu.edu/novel-coronavirus-information/financial-implications-and-planning/

A friend there says that some staff (though perhaps not faculty?) will be furloughed, some may be laid off, and they will lose cost-of-living increases and some benefits (like retirement contribution matching).  She learned this on "Administrative Professionals Day" and was not amused by the way the university marked the occasion.