By Sue Loughlin, The Tribune-Star
sue.loughlin@tribstar.com
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 today.
"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 as of July 1. ISU is working with the U.S. Postal Service to try to maintain the post office boxes.
• Flattening of the administrative organizational structure in several units.
• A reduction in the level of custodial services provided across campus.
• A reduction in clerical support within academic programs and administrative units.
• A reduction in ISU's capability to provide communications and marketing services in-house.
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 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).
The university, in response to previous budget issues, has made significant reductions in supply/expense budgets.
The new plan focuses primarily on personnel-related expenses, which comprise approximately 82 percent of ISU's discretionary budget (the total budget minus utilities and student aid).
ISU currently has approximately 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.
The president is taking feedback on the budget reduction plan through three open sessions: Thursday, from 11 a.m. until noon; Feb. 10, from 2 to 3 p.m.; and Feb. 16, from noon to 1 p.m. All sessions will be in Dede II in Hulman Memorial Student Union.