[Mathregionals] Budget Update 5/4

[Eisworth, Todd]

Hi all,

I am writing to encourage you to attend tonight's Faculty Senate (Teams) meeting, at least for the portion where the President and Provost speak.  My hope is that we get some real information on the university's plan to survive the Covid-19 crisis, in particular, what are the scope and timeline for cuts in various areas.

I don't know much more than I did last week, but I did do some information gathering over the past few days.  I am not an expert by any means, but I've tried to piece together things as best I can.


  1.  The numbers involved are staggering, and dwarf anything in living memory.  The university has reserves to survive, but conservative estimates have us addressing a deficit of 100-200 million between now and July 2021.   I based this on the Provost's figures she quoted last week, and corroborated with the Ohio University Budget Book. (the main drivers are a 20% reduction in SSI for the remainder of this year and next is 43 million, a 10% loss of tuition/board revenue is a further 43 million next year. Furthermore, we already were 26 million in the red going in to this year, with an additional 18 million in revenue refunded to students, with additions costs due to the move to remote instruction.  The 10% loss of tuition/board revenue is likely on the small side given that we are looking at a freshman class potentially 15-20% smaller than we expected).



  1.  Social media has been blowing up with variations on "Ohio University is firing tenure track faculty".  Any non-renewal letters that go out by May 15th have no effect on addressing the deficit mentioned above, as these people will all still be employed through May 2021.  There has been anger about academic cuts coming first, but the size of the hole we face says that major changes must come.  When someone who isn't faculty gets cut, they lose their job immediately, without the 1 year notice.  These cuts will need to start happening soon, before the end of this fiscal year, even if we've been told nothing about what is planned.



  1.  Regarding potential furloughs:  Current policy prevents differential furloughs, that is, any furloughs implemented now would have to be across the board.  Looking at total salary figures, a 10% across the board salary cut results in around 35 million in savings, which is relatively small compared to the size of the hole.   My understanding is that the President's cabinet is looking at changing policy to allow for differential furloughs, so that the hit could be adjusted for current salary (for example, maybe <50K = no furlough, while >200K = 20%).  I expect an announcement about furloughs to come after a policy change.



  1.  The colleges are meeting with the Provost this week to discuss the proposed cuts to faculty.   My understanding is that the potential cuts do include some probationary faculty in some departments, as well as significant numbers of instructional faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences.



  1.  RHE budgets are still being handled by the RHE deans.  With regard to Athens faculty, I spoke with the Florenz again on Saturday, and there are still no plans for further personnel cuts in math given how lean we are.  If something changes, I will let people know.


I lament the absence of substantive communication from Cutler Hall, as they should be the ones sending out clear information.

My hope is that we get such information tonight at Faculty Senate.

Best,

Todd





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