LANSING — Non-union faculty at Michigan State University will see pay cuts of as much as 7% as the school grapples with COVID-19's financial impact.
President Samuel Stanley Jr. announced Monday that all faculty and academic staff who are not represented by a union will see their pay cut according to a graduated scale, starting at 0.5% for employees with the lowest salaries and up to 7% for those with the highest, according to a communication from Stanley. Deans and members of the executive management team could see cuts as high as 8%.
The pay reductions are effective Sept. 1, when the fall semester begins and will remain in place for at least one year, depending on the university's financial situation. Stanley expects MSU to lose up to $300 million next year due to COVID-19.
"This scale fits within the principles of shared sacrifice across the university," Stanley said.
The cuts come in 17 different amounts, from 0.5% for faculty who earn less than $50,000 a year and are not members of the Union of Nontenure-Track Faculty to 8% for deans and members of the executive management team making $500,000 or more, according to information released by MSU.
Meanwhile, MSU officials and union leaders have been negotiating furloughs. According to Stanley's letter, 716 employees have been furloughed, including 280 voluntary furloughs.
Retirement plan contributions for executive management and non-unionized faculty will also take a hit. MSU's matching contributions will fall from 10% of employee's compensation to 5%.
"While we must take these actions to preserve our university’s ability to continue its important mission, they are in no way reflective of our employees’ hard work and dedication to MSU; each of our employees is at the core of providing exceptional experiences to tens of thousands of students," Stanley said. "In these trying times, we will continue to do our best to support employees affected by these actions."
Trey Malone, an assistant professor in the MSU's Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, expects to see a 1% salary loss. He was surprised it wasn't higher.
"The cut itself is rather small, assuming this is a one-year deal," he said. "The bigger question is how long is that cut going to last and what does that mean for future raises. Every year faculty have some kind of salary adjustment."
He's more concerned about the retirement contributions cut. The cuts are forcing him to make hard choices, like temporarily forgoing improvements at his new home near Mason.
The cuts could have been worse, Malone said.
"In higher education, I don’t think any of us are going to avoid this," he said. "It’s hard for me to imagine any publicly-funded colleges that aren’t going to experience some kind of pressure. Given the last few years of Michigan State’s financial health, I would say the university leadership handled this extremely well."
Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.
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MSU will cut faculty pay by up to 7 percent to counteract COVID-19's financial impact - Lansing State Journal
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