High-paid University of Alaska executives and administrators will be furloughed for short periods in the upcoming new fiscal year. The over $500,000 cost-saving measure comes as the University deals with a 3-year $70-million state funding reduction, as well as new costs and reduced revenues caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
A UA release says 166 employees will be affected by the furloughs. One group includes UA President Jim Johnsen, campus chancellors, provosts and chief officers, who will each lose a total of ten days pay. Senior administrators including academic deans will be furloughed eight days. President Johnsen says the employee groups were selected because of their pay scale.
Furloughs Reflect: Q:”…the university system.” :12
Some additional savings are already being accrued from the furlough of 120 lower-level employees, whose jobs can’t be done from home during pandemic caused campus closures, but furloughs are just a small portion of the cost saving measures happening across the UA system.
Furloughs T2T: Q:”…faculty getting pink slips.” :19
University of Alaska Faculty Alliance chair and UAA professor Maria Williams maintains the executive and administrative furloughs do not go far enough, and suggests a 10% salary reduction for those groups, as a way to a avert broader cuts, including the deletion of 10 academic programs with strong enrollments.
UA Furloughs Save: Q:”…in this climate.” :21
President Johnsen says deletion of academic programs and a host of other cuts are part of a budget proposal UA regents will meet to finalize in June.