Nonunion instructors and academic staff members at MSU in September will see pay cuts of up to 7% for at least a year as the university absorbs an estimated $300-million loss this budget year due to the coronavirus. The average salary drops 2.3%.
"This continues to be a very challenging time," President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. says in a 14-paragraph "Dear Spartan colleagues" letter this week.
"I know it will be difficult for those affected, but hard decisions like this were needed. ...
"In these trying times, we will continue to do our best to support employees affected by these actions."
(Photo: Michigan State University)
He thanks those affected "for your sacrifices and your understanding." The letter doesn't say how many people will see smaller checks through September 2021 or longer.
MSU also reduces retirement plan matching contributions by half in July. To get a 5% match, staff members still must still contribute 5% of their annual compensation. (They've received a 10% match for setting aside that amount.)
The president's bad-news letter.
This isn't the first 2020 setback for faculty at the East Lansing campus, The State News student paper reports:
Each unit on campus is taking a minimum of 3% budget reduction. ... Some MSU departments have already started furloughing employees last month.
At this time, 716 employees have been furloughed, 280 of which were voluntary.
