This just goes to show the crisis is affecting schools large and small. Everyone is feeling the pain.
The Duke Chronicle reports:
Duke to suspend University-paid retirement fund contributions, cut salaries for highly compensated employeesFacing a possible decline in revenues of more than a quarter-billion dollars, Duke will suspend University-paid contributions to the Duke Faculty and Staff Retirement 403(b) plan and cut salaries for highly compensated employees for the next 12 months, with President Vincent Price and other top administrators voluntarily taking larger cuts.In a Wednesday news release, Price described the changes as necessary to alleviate a loss of revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic, which could reach up to 15% of Duke’s annual operating budget—a total loss of between $250 million and $350 million. The University will implement all of the new spending cuts July 1, according to the releaseThe University will stop contributions to the Faculty and Staff retirement plan—which covers employees who are paid on a monthly basis—for the next 12 months. While employees will still be able to add to their retirement funds out of their own salaries, Duke will no longer make separate contributions.The Employees’ Retirement Plan—Duke’s pension plan for employees who are paid on an hourly or biweekly rate—will not be affected by the cuts.Price wrote that by cutting retirement spending in addition to the steps it has already taken, Duke will save between $150 million and $200 million over the next year.Meanwhile, for the next 12 months, all Duke employees who receive more than $285,000 in compensation will see a pay cut of 10% of their excess salary above that amount. Certain administrators, including Price, Provost Sally Kornbluth, Executive Vice President Tallman Trask and Chancellor of Health Affairs A. Eugene Washington, will voluntarily take larger cuts—20% for Price and 15% for Kornbluth, Trask and Washington.
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