For university’s furlough plan, questions abound

Most university administrators, faculty members and staffers will have to take unpaid days off. That's pretty much all that's certain about upcoming employee furloughs.

University President Dan Mote has been seeking feedback on potentially controversial questions about how the furloughs will be implemented: Should professors be able to take a day off when they have class scheduled? Will the campus shut down completely for a day or more? Should graduate students and University Police be exempt from furloughs? How should furloughs be applied to hourly versus salaried workers? Can people be forced to stay home on their furlough days?

"If I'm taking a furlough day, I don't see why anyone should tell me what to do," said Mote, who indicated he would work on his furlough days, as he did last year. "But you see, some professors might disagree with that."

Mote has solicited the opinions of the University Senate Executive Committee, which traditionally serves as his top advisory body. By the end of the week, he'll have a draft plan addressing these issues that will be presented to the committee and to employee unions, said Sally Koblinsky, his chief of staff.

The state is requiring university employees to undergo furloughs, which are essentially unpaid vacation days. By the end of the month, the university hopes to have a plan to save $10.2 million with furloughs, Mote said. Employees will have until the end of the fiscal year — June 30, 2010 — to take their days off.

Last year, the number of furlough days employees took off was based on a sliding scale related to their salaries. Mote said this year's plan will likely be similar, but the amount of days taken will probably double. The highest-paid employees could have 10 furlough days.

Mote explicitly said employee benefits would remain intact, regardless of furloughs or budget cuts. But Craig Newman, secretary for the university chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, said that statement wasn't specific enough. For example, he asked, will the loss of working hours from furloughs be applied to pensions or sick or vacation time?

Many Senate Executive Committee members either couldn't be reached or declined to talk about what they discussed with Mote, saying the three meetings they had with the president, the latest of which was last Wednesday, were general overviews. Not all committee members attended the discussions, which weren't publicly announced because they were characterized as president's meetings.

"I couldn't summarize the furlough discussions with any specificity," said committee member Mahlon Straszheim, an economics professor and an interim associate provost. "I don't have an opinion to offer at this moment."

Physics professor and committee member Thomas Cohen said he thought graduate and post-doctorate students should be protected from furloughs.

He also thought shutting down the campus would be "a very good idea" so departments wouldn't run into situations where some employees are present but can't complete their work because they depend on other employees.

The two undergraduate students on the committee thought it was important that furloughs don't impact the academic quality of classes.

"The University Senate Executive Committee has made a pledge to maintain the integrity of student services," said Jonathan Sachs, one of two undergraduate student senators on the committee. "It means that professors aren't taking furlough days on days when they have class. The collective paradigm of the committee was to assure that student services were maintained."

Sachs, a former Student Government Association president, wouldn't elaborate further on what he defined as student services.

"President Mote's been working really hard to make sure all students aren't having compromised classes," said Sean Sullivan, the committee's other undergraduate senator, who said he only attended one of the three meetings. "As far as particular policies, I haven't gotten involved in that; that's not my expertise."

If Mote consults with the presidents of other universities, for example, their advice would likely be better than his, Sullivan said.

cwells at umdbk dot com