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Sharing the Pain: Cutting Faculty Salaries Across the Board
By admin | July 2, 2009
Sharing the Pain: Cutting Faculty Salaries Across the Board
Greensboro College has many of the intimate hallmarks of a small, private, liberal-arts college.
Professors give their cellphone numbers to students and routinely provide extra help to those who need it. Classes at the North Carolina institution average 14 people. And one of the students featured on the college Web site is a biology major who plays on the tennis and volleyball teams and says she is grateful that professors are willing to work around her hectic schedule. The college motto is “You belong here!”
But in mid-April, faculty and staff members got some news that cast a pall on the close-knit campus. At a hastily arranged meeting in the chapel where worship services are held every week, President Craven E. Williams announced layoffs and a temporary, across-the-board pay cut of 20 percent for salaried employees. In addition, sabbaticals were shelved and many benefits were cut.
The institution needs $5-million to stay afloat until the fall, when tuition payments roll in. “It’s very difficult to tell somebody that you’re cutting their pay 20 percent,” said Robert Stout, chairman of Greensboro College’s Board of Trustees. “But the important thing is to make sure the college survives.”
Some colleges, slammed by the nationwide recession, have begun to eliminate specific programs and departments. But those cost savings often take time to materialize. Greensboro and other colleges instead turned to across-the-board measures that could be put in place quickly and have an immediate effect on the bottom line. Pay cuts often fit the bill.
Topics: Education |