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The budget ax is cutting through colleges and universities throughout the state. At Utah State University, mandatory furloughs have been ordered for all employees.
USU was told to chop $5.65 million from the budget. School President Stan Albrecht says a furlough is the best way he can think of to save jobs.
Nearly 3,000 full- and part-time employees will take a five-day furlough next month. That means campus essentially will be shut down during spring break, March 9-13. If employees need to come to work to monitor experiments, they will need written permission and will have to take five unpaid days at another time.
Student employees are not affected.
Albrecht says it was either the furlough or widespread layoffs. It comes just days after college students rallied at the Capitol against budget cuts for higher education.
Basically it means a 2 percent pay cut, spread out over five monthly pay periods. It should make up 60 percent of the cut ordered by the Legislature.
On Friday, the Legislative Executive Appropriations Committee ordered $5.65 million cut from USU's budget. That's on top of a 4 percent cut approved in last September's special legislative session.
USU is waiting to hear about what cuts are coming for 2010, and hopes it won't have to extend furloughs through Christmas and fall breaks.
No furloughs are planned at Weber State University, at least not yet, anyway. But WSU must cut another $2.5 million from its budget. That adds up to more than $5 million in cuts since last July.
"At this point in time we do not plan on having any furloughs. But if we get word of additional financial cuts this fiscal year, that may be something we'll have to look at," said Weber State spokesman John Kowaleski.
Kowaleski says most job openings are frozen and some capital improvement projects won't begin.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com
