University of Delaware Begins Laying Off Staff in Face of $250 Million Deficit
“We are committed to balancing the respect and appreciation we have for our workforce with the need to respond to immediate financial pressures”
You would think someone in the media might want to ask Joe Biden how the school came to this point. Shouldn’t he know?
WDEL News reports:
Facing $250M deficit, University of Delaware turns to layoffs, furloughs
The University of Delaware will layoff staff in multiple departments and furlough all staff due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
It’s unclear, at this time, how many staff members will be affected by the layoffs.
In a letter to the campus community, University President Dr. Dennis Assanis called these decisions “extremely difficult.”
“We are committed to balancing the respect and appreciation we have for our workforce with the need to respond to immediate financial pressures, while positioning UD for success in the next few years. We also need to prioritize efficiency so that we continue to remain accessible and affordable for our students and families,” said Assanis.
Staff will also see temporary reductions to their retirement reductions. Faculty are not affected.
“We are having discussions with unions representing our employees regarding implementation of such measures. The details of these measures are still being determined in order to minimize the impact on employees to the extent possible,” said Assanis.
Assanis called the challenges facing UD “unprecedented” and noted it will take years for the university to recover.
The significant cost-cutting measures are on top of cuts in discretionary spending, a hiring and pay freeze for all faculty and staff, and pay cuts to executive-level senior staff implemented last spring. Assanis, himself, took a 10 percent pay cut, resulting in a reduction of his $878,000 salary by $87,000. Those cuts, in total, resulted in $86 million in savings–which wasn’t enough to close the projected $168 million budget shortfall.
As a result, the university was also forced to dip into its $1.46 billion endowment, pulling out $100 million to combat a deficit of at least $250 million.
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Comments
UD may have to reduce their dorm surveillance. They used to have mandatory wokeness trainings in the dorms a few years ago, with paperwork, reporting, it was very official. I advised my kids not to apply there.
Better off without at least that part of staff work.