KVNUFTP

Across the board paycuts are a bad idea

From this morning’s Herald Journal editorial:

It has been said that about 80 percent of USU’s $150 million-plus budget goes to salaries. A 3 percent cut would amount to around $3.8 million.

Is that enough to make a difference? Employees in some of USU’s at-risk departments would probably say so.

The argument by some on University Hill will be that USU needs to keep salaries at a certain level so it can attract quality applicants for academic and research positions and maintain its stature as an institution of higher education. Moreover, it’s been reported often that the school is already behind other peer institutions in pay levels, so it can ill-afford to lose any more ground.

But this is crunch time, not just at USU but at universities across the country, and belts are being tightened in virtually every sector of the U.S. economy. When all is said and done, many individuals in academia may be glad to have jobs at all, much less jobs with optimum pay.

This is such an awful situation for Utah State.  Usually USU has to endure annual negligence from the Legislature, but now that relationship seems downright abusive and even sadistic.

The Herald Journal’s proposal is a bad idea.

I recently had a conversation with a family member who works for a large company that took the approach the Herald Journal proposed.  He has worked for the company for a long time becoming on of the most skilled and senior employees.  Rather than lay off workers, everyone from the newest unskilled worker to the most senior skilled worker – including my family member – had their hours and pay cut by 10%.

My family member obviously thought this was unfair and disloyal to him after his years of service and the integral role he plays.  He indicated that the effect was to shatter morale across the entire company.  He says that in the past when the company laid off people in tough times “misery went out the door”.  Now, misery stays and everyone gets to share in it.

An across the board paycut at Utah State decreases morale of the employees.  Misery doesn’t go out the door.  It stays and infects the entire campus.

Let me also add that with a few exceptions, in the past decade that I have observed the Legislature I feel strongly that they have been at the best indifferent to Utah State and higher ed and at the worst grossly negligent in their support.  I don’t feel that many, if any, have a hands on understanding of what happens at the ground level of higher ed for administrators running the schools, professors teaching or students attempting to finance their education.   Remember when the Legislature thought they could raise additional money by delaying in-state tuition status for a year?  They didn’t think about the possibility that out of state students would simply leave, which they did, rather than be hustled.   Rather than making money, the poorly thought out policy ended up costing the State money and shifting an additional burden of fixed costs over a smaller group of students.

Year after year, the burdern of funding a college education is shifted to students.  There are only so many  hours in a week to study and work part time.   The shifting burden simply cannot be supported by the paltry $7 an hour that students are paid in Cache Valley.  This means that fewer students have access to Utah State or the students that do have access take on additional debt.   Fewer spouses get degrees because the shifting burden to students demands a second $7/hour job to support just one student.

And for the record, I am absolutely for the entitlement of publicly funded higher education.  Education empowers people to become self reliant.    Education drives the economy of the valley, state and nation.  Education creates better citizens.  All of these fundamental societal benefits are eroded by the Legislature year after year as they shift the funding burden to the student.

Now, it seems it’s not simple burden shifting or erosion.  The Legislature has been asked to do complicated surgery on Utah State and higher ed with this years budget crisis.   And unwittingly they’ve brought a dull, rusty knife to do the job rather than a scalpel.

And they’re going to kill the patient.

-Tom