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January 29, 2010

ISU eliminates estimated 108 positions

By Sue Loughlin

TERRE HAUTE — Indiana State University’s budget reduction plan calls for the elimination of an estimated 108 positions, including 78 hourly and 30 salaried.

The university began informing those affected on Wednesday, and some were still being told Friday.

“Tears have been shed. There is anxiety and stress — everything you can imagine that would go along with something like this,” said Roxanne Torrence, chairwoman of the Support Staff Council. “My thoughts are with everyone affected.”

The plan provides severance packages for affected employees. A separate early retirement plan, coupled with a hiring freeze for certain pay grades announced earlier this month, may allow some displaced workers to be considered for positions that become vacant.

Main components of the budget reduction plan are as follows:

• Having a third-party vendor provide student health services. Fifteen jobs will be eliminated from the Student Health Center, and the university is negotiating with an outside vendor to provide student health services on campus, which is expected to reduce expenses.

• Elimination of retail operations provided by the contract postal unit in the Federal Building as of July 1. ISU is working with the U.S. Postal Service to try to maintain the post office boxes. About a year ago, ISU added three employees to operate the contract postal unit, said Diann McKee, vice president for business affairs. “We really cannot afford to offer that service,” she said.

• Flattening of the administrative organizational structure in several units. Some associate dean positions will be eliminated.

• A reduction in the level of custodial services provided across campus.

• A reduction in clerical support within academic programs and administrative units.

Positions eliminated include 25 in facilities, primarily custodial and grounds maintenance; seven in information technology and 15 at the Student Health Center.

Out of the 108 total positions to be eliminated, 18 are currently vacant. The positions will be eliminated by June 30, which is the end of the fiscal year.

The plan does not permanently reduce the number of tenure and tenure-track faculty positions, and it will not impact students’ ability to enroll in the courses they need and to graduate on time. The plan does not increase tuition costs.

ISU President Dan Bradley informed the university community through a detailed e-mail communication this afternoon.

“It is never easy for an individual or an organization to go through this type of budget issue and my heart goes out to those individuals who have been impacted,” Bradley said. “I hope the benefits we have been able to extend will help ease some of the burden of these decisions.”

ISU was informed last month that its state appropriation will be cut $10.4 million over the next 18 months.

“From the beginning of this process, the overarching goal has been to protect our ability to meet our mission,” Bradley said in the e-mail. “The university’s strategic plan, The Pathway to Success, has guided these efforts. Our top priority continues to be helping students succeed in meeting their educational goals.”

Faculty, staff and Student Government Association leaders, together with the university’s four vice presidents, helped develop the plan.

Steve Lamb, chairman of the Faculty Senate, said he was pleased with the amount of input that all levels of governance had into the process, which was a difficult one.

“The institution is suffering a great deal,” Lamb said. “I’ve seen many support staff weeping, not knowing what the future holds.”

The decisions that vice presidents and deans had to make “were wrenching,” Lamb said. “The greatest concern has to be for those who don’t have the economic wherewithal to withstand these tremendous losses.”

Lamb is hopeful that several of those who lose their jobs will be able to stay employed at ISU through vacancies created by early retirements or the current hiring freeze (affecting some pay grades).

ISU currently has about 1,400 full-time equivalent employees.

The severance package for those who will lose their jobs provides six months of continued health insurance benefits fully paid by the university, and a minimum of one-month’s notice and eight weeks of severance pay, or 12 weeks’ severance pay if the position is eliminated without notice.

An additional week of severance pay will be provided for each year of service beyond one year, up to a total maximum severance of 16 weeks.

ISU also has proposed an early retirement incentive plan, which still must be approved by the board of trustees.

Full-time, benefits-eligible faculty members, administrators and support staff who have at least nine years of consecutive service at ISU and who are 55 or older by their retirement date will receive:

• a lump sum payment of 125 percent of base salary if retirement date is between now and June 30.

• a lump sum payment of 115 percent of base salary if retirement date is on or before Dec. 31.

• lump sum payment of 100 percent of base salary if retirement date is on or before June 30, 2011.

Employees participating in the early retirement incentive plan must notify the university of their actual retirement date by April 2.

One person who is losing his job, but asked to remain unnamed, said the most stressful aspect was knowing that jobs would be eliminated but having to “wait for the hammer to fall.”

He doesn’t believe the job eliminations were “properly thought out … It seems a lot of layoffs were targeted at individuals” and not based on the direction the university needs to go.

He will qualify for early retirement and was “shocked” at how generous the university was. He will receive a lump sum payment that amounts to 125 percent of his annual salary, if the board of trustees approves the proposal.

Michael Scott, Student Government Association president, said the changes at the Student Health Center will probably be the area that most impacts students.

His concern is that with an outside vendor, students may have to pay for some services previously subsidized by the university.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.

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