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Temple University Announces Pay Cuts Due to Coronavirus Crisis

Temple University Announces Pay Cuts Due to Coronavirus Crisis

“An academic union says it is also asking staff to forgo raises as part of the sweeping budget cuts.”

Funny, you don’t hear too much talk about preferred pronouns and microaggressions these days, do you?

BillyPenn reports:

Temple University execs take 10% pay cut, ask faculty to give up raises

Temple University recently generated a flood of goodwill for offering up its Liacouras Center as a surge space for coronavirus hospital beds.

Inside the city’s largest university, however, officials are bracing for another storm.

The school is imposing a 10% pay cut for all executive staff as it braces for financial austerity, according to an email reviewed by Billy Penn. An academic union says it is also asking staff to forgo raises as part of the sweeping budget cuts.

Details were broadly outlined in a memo sent out to faculty on Tuesday. Ken Kaiser, Temple’s chief financial officer and treasurer, said the sudden disruptions to campus life, including the rapid shift to online classes, have been costly.

The pandemic “put a major strain on university finances in the form of lost revenue from conferences and events, and refunds to students for unused housing, meal plans and parking charges,” Kaiser wrote.

Administration officials are seeking a 5% budget reduction for the coming fiscal year, which will include cuts across every department.

Kaiser said that while Temple will receive millions in federal relief through the CARES Act, “a large share” of those funds must be passed through to students (at least 50%, according to the U.S. Dept. of Ed.). “The remainder will come nowhere near to making up for the losses we have suffered so far, much less make up for what we might experience in the future,” the university treasurer said.

Temple has already implemented an administrative hiring freeze. Now, salaries for senior university officials — officers, deans and advisors to President Richard M. Englert — will be reduced by 10% beginning in May, according to the email. Non-unionized Temple employees earning more than $100,000 annually will see pay reductions of 5%.

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Comments

The Owl’s leaders show the way. Nice job.

So, union members, give it up; follow the leaders, inspire the young.

How does forgoing raises constitute a budget cut?