Employees of the state university system will be furloughed up to five days under a plan approved yesterday by the Maryland Board of Regents that would save $16 million in salary costs.
Regents said the furloughs, which will come between January and June, were preferable to laying off any of the system's 22,500 full-time employees. The furloughs, the system's first since 1992, were ordered by the governor as the state tries to balance its budget in the face of declining revenues and a global economic crisis.
Not all university employees will be furloughed. Lower-salaried employees might be spared or furloughed for only one or two days. The highest-salaried employees would take a five-day pay cut. Faculty salaries are highest at the University of Maryland, College Park, where professors make an average of $105,000.
University presidents, who will be included in the furloughs but said they will still come into work, said they would try to minimize the impact on classes.
University of Baltimore President Robert L. Bogomolny said he would ask faculty members to schedule their furloughs on days when they are not teaching.
"I am confident we will weather this storm and continue on our path to becoming one of the nation's great systems of higher education," said system Chancellor William E. Kirwan. "I'm confident the disruption to classes will be zero or very, very minimal."
The regents directed each university president to develop a plan for the furloughs in consultation with the chancellor's office. The plans are expected to be finalized before Christmas.
The system includes 11 universities and two research centers. The two public universities outside the system, Morgan State and St. Mary's College, also expect to impose furloughs.
Faculty members interviewed yesterday said they would not let the furloughs affect their classes and would come into work on furlough days.
"Students are paying for the education, and it's our job to provide that to them," said Jeff Leips, an associate professor in biological sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
"To be honest, we're going to come in to work anyway. We all value teaching way too much," Leips said, adding that he would rather be furloughed than see people laid off. "I recognize the challenges that the state is facing, and we all have to sacrifice to get through this, hopefully short, period."
