SHAKING OUT THAT EXCESS CAPACITY.

It's likely too obscure to rate a "College Bubble Alert" when one of Wisconsin's most notorious party schools has to take economy measures, but it's either the bubble popping or the U.S. News problem as Reality steps up to bat.  "UW-Oshkosh said it will begin intermittent furloughs and layoffs in order to reduce a projected 2023 structural deficit of up to $18 million."  It's the same sort of retrenchment we've been paying attention to for years.

According to a statement from the university on Thursday, "intermittent furloughs" start during the September 2023 pay periods and last through the June 2024 pay periods.

The university said furlough days are tied to their salary level. Employees enrolled in the Voluntary Retirement Incentive Options Program (VRIOP) will be exempt from furloughs until their retirement, no later than January 2024.

But the university also said, "Unfortunately, furloughs alone will not cover the deficit this year. Yet they will help close the gap by providing immediate financial relief. More specific details on this element of our plan will come from human resources over the next few weeks."

According to their statement, they will also be "examining" layoffs. "Layoffs and nonrenewals are unavoidable, with notifications coming later this fall semester," officials said.

"Furlough" is higher education's way of saying "pay cut." Those exemptions offered to people who are being encouraged to step out of line and disappear are to protect the pensions, which get calculated on the basis of recent years' salaries.  Wouldn't want to cut the pensions of people who will soon be off the payroll.  A few years ago, Northern Illinois University was able to claim no layoffs, because of an extension to the Christmas closures.  "Scheduled Closure differs from Floating Holiday, in that employees paid on a timecard basis will not receive pay. Thus the Operating Staff Council and the Supportive Professional Staff Council have committed to small pay reductions, perhaps offset as involuntary vacation days."  Those were not designated as "furlough days" for salaried employees.

Notionally, furloughed employees ought not be working on days they are furloughed, or so headquarters tells faculty.

One of the dirty secrets of academic life is the excess of committees, and the surfeit of failed scholars who live for committee meetings. One of the nasty byproducts of committee meetings is reaching agreement on a date for the meeting. Professors who are active in research will sometimes protect their research time. Commuting professors are even worse, pleading a preference to not make a trip simply for a committee meeting. (As if my shorter trip is somehow not made more unpleasant when I have to put myself out for the commuter.)

Furloughed professors have no reason to attend a committee meeting on a furlough day. The Arizona State plan suggests that furloughed professors may be eligible for unemployment compensation. The unemployment office asks if the beneficiary is looking for work. Writing research papers and grant proposals and circulating updated vitae sounds like looking for work. More research, more job-hopping, fewer committees, q.e.d.

It was acquiescence in decline a dozen years ago. It is acquiescence in decline now.

“We need a new, bold action to reduce expenses,” [Oshkosh chancellor Andrew] Leavitt said during a Zoom news conference. “Our approach faces reality head-on.”

Leavitt's plan calls for shedding around 200 staff and administrators through a combination of layoffs and early retirement buyouts. It also calls for all employees to take furlough days starting this fall, with higher-paid employees taking longer furlough periods. Leavitt didn't offer additional details.

Campus officials don't plan to cut any faculty positions, Leavitt said. They want to shield students from the deficit's impact, he said.

It looks, though, as if Affirmative Action means "Normies Need Not Apply."

UW System data indicates drastic enrollment drops by “non-underrepresented” students. They're defined as students who are white, international students, or those with family heritage in Asian countries well-represented in the student body—such as China, Korea, and Japan.

Good grief. Do we burn higher education to the ground and salt the earth, or nuke it from orbit?