No one is happy about the furloughs
Dervedia Thomas
Issue date: 11/16/09 Section: Features
No one is happy about the furlough!
These are the words of Staff Senate President Kay Snider who summed up the feeling of SC State's staff for The Collegian on Friday.
"It's a temporary solution to a major problem [budget shortfall] and there's no sense of [job] security," she continued.
The 7-day furlough stemming from scholarships and waivers issued in excess of the budgeted amount, lower than projected student enrollment and a 4.04 percent reduction in state funds may seem as a minor relief in light of the 10 and 12 days discussed earlier in the semester, but it will still hit employees of the university hard given the tough economic times.
"Needless to say we are disappointed that we have to receive a salary reduction" said Faculty Senate President Evelyn Fields. "We are concerned about furloughs, because they are not a permanent solution to this financial crisis. We are looking forward to a more permanent solution for budget shortcuts because we cannot continue to be furloughed from year to year."
One furlough day saves the university $140,000 according to President George E. Cooper at his Oct 7 meeting with faculty and staff. At that meeting, Cooper who underscored that furloughs were not his "favorite way of dealing with business," said 12 days were a possibility.
Reactions from the faculty and staff gathered ranged from one professor saying he would have to leave the university, to another in tears. Recommendations were and are still being made to the president to calculate furloughs as a percentage of pay, instead of giving the same number of furloughs days to nine month and 12 month employees.
Cooper is expected to submit to the Board of Trustees a proposal of how he will close the gap on the 6 million dollar deficit in December. The board has already been denied the president 1.5 million dollars in stimulus money and $300 000 from a contingency fund as a means of balancing the budget, leaving him to explore other alternatives to acquire the funds.
These are the words of Staff Senate President Kay Snider who summed up the feeling of SC State's staff for The Collegian on Friday.
"It's a temporary solution to a major problem [budget shortfall] and there's no sense of [job] security," she continued.
The 7-day furlough stemming from scholarships and waivers issued in excess of the budgeted amount, lower than projected student enrollment and a 4.04 percent reduction in state funds may seem as a minor relief in light of the 10 and 12 days discussed earlier in the semester, but it will still hit employees of the university hard given the tough economic times.
"Needless to say we are disappointed that we have to receive a salary reduction" said Faculty Senate President Evelyn Fields. "We are concerned about furloughs, because they are not a permanent solution to this financial crisis. We are looking forward to a more permanent solution for budget shortcuts because we cannot continue to be furloughed from year to year."
One furlough day saves the university $140,000 according to President George E. Cooper at his Oct 7 meeting with faculty and staff. At that meeting, Cooper who underscored that furloughs were not his "favorite way of dealing with business," said 12 days were a possibility.
Reactions from the faculty and staff gathered ranged from one professor saying he would have to leave the university, to another in tears. Recommendations were and are still being made to the president to calculate furloughs as a percentage of pay, instead of giving the same number of furloughs days to nine month and 12 month employees.
Cooper is expected to submit to the Board of Trustees a proposal of how he will close the gap on the 6 million dollar deficit in December. The board has already been denied the president 1.5 million dollars in stimulus money and $300 000 from a contingency fund as a means of balancing the budget, leaving him to explore other alternatives to acquire the funds.
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