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Faculty, administrators, staff offered payments to leave state university
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Thursday, Mar 19, 2009
Kent State announced a plan Wednesday to trim its ranks of some faculty, staff and administrators.
Full-time employees with at least 15 years of service would receive one year of base salary, up to a limit, that would be paid over eight years if they are retiring or five years if they are not. Health care is not included.
President Lester Lefton said this was one of a ''variety of different measures'' KSU is taking to trim its budget in light of what probably will be limited financial support from the state of Ohio in the coming year.
About 70 percent of the university's operating budget is devoted to labor. Last year, the university sustained the first operating loss in its history at $2.2 million and is on track to lose perhaps $3.2 million this year, Lefton said.
Lee Fox, president of the
tenure-track unit of the American Association of University Employees, said she did not know how appealing the plan would be to her colleagues, whose payment would be capped at $65,000, regardless of how much they make.
The average annual salary for Kent State faculty ranges from $99,200 for professors to $46,800 for assistant professors, according to the the industry newspaper the Chronicle of Higher Education.
''This could be attractive for a fairly limited number of people — those very near retirement or who are sitting on the fence, who were waiting for a little bit of an incentive,'' said Fox, an associate professor of psychology at KSU's Stark campus. ''But it's always a little bit of crapshoot, especially in this economy.''
Tracy Laux, president of the Kent State AAUP nontenure-track unit and a math lecturer on the Kent campus, said he did not expect ''great numbers'' of employees to volunteer.
Unlike tenure-track faculty, nontenured teaching employees receive yearly contracts and are not guaranteed what is virtually lifetime employment.
Nontenure-track faculty would be paid up to $35,000; unclassified employees, which would include administrators, up to $55,000; classified employees not represented by a bargaining unit, up to $30,000; and classified employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, up to $20,000.
A consultant told the university that it could expect to save $3 over five years for every $1 it pays in severance, Lefton said.
The university will achieve the savings by hiring replacement employees at lower salaries, redeploying some employees and not filling some positions, he said.
''This is an opportunity to reassess our student needs,'' he said. ''This is a way to create an opportunity to trim.''
He said the consultant, the Educators Preferred Corp. of Southfield, Mich., indicated that the university could expect 90 faculty and 100 staff and administrators to take advantage of the voluntary plan.
KSU has about 850 tenure-track faculty, 350 nontenure-track faculty and about 2,200 staff and administrators.
Employees who are deemed critical to the university's mission might be required to wait a year before taking advantage of the offer that would be effective for others on July 1.
Educators Preferred will receive $220 for each participating employee per year for each of the first three years.
When asked if the university would resort to forced layoffs if it doesn't get the response it hopes for, Lefton said, ''We're nowhere near that kind of planning.''
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
Kent State announced a plan Wednesday to trim its ranks of some faculty, staff and administrators.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 08:52 AM, 03/19/2009
I guess this means Lefton will be cuttin' back on his expensive trips abroad.
atwater, OH
Posted 09:06 AM, 03/19/2009
if they want employees to leave offer a buy out as in the past where they would buy 3-5 years service so you can draw your pension
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 11:53 AM, 03/19/2009
Look on KSU's web site and they have 3 full pages of jobs that are open to apply to right now.
Akron, Oh
Posted 06:13 PM, 03/19/2009
This is not a good deal. KSU needs to buy time for their faculty in STRS so that the pot is sweeter and more equitable and stable. No one in his right mind would take this deal.
Posted 09:10 AM, 03/20/2009
They can start by tossing Julio Pino and his Jihadist teaching out on his terrorist arse!
