Report to the Board

Colleagues:

As you know, SCSU is in the midst of extraordinary financial hardships. After years of declining enrollment, we are planning on an enrollment for Fall of 2015 of 2650, a number which would have been unthinkably lean even two years ago. As you know, the causes of this setback are many and varied, but the bottom line is that you and I and our fellow co-workers -- some of whom have been let go -- can expect to face the consequences for at least the next two years.

At the end of this report, I am going to send you to link for feedback, but for now let me catch you up on what you may or may not already know:

On June 30th, the Board of Trustees approved a 2015-16 fiscal budget. The first draft of the budget, based on the 2014-15 budget, had over a 17 million dollar deficit. The approved budget is balanced, but it achieves this balance by making some drastic cuts, including:

· A 12 day furlough. That’s about a 7.5% pay cut for 9 month faculty, 5% for 12 month.

· A 10% reduction in annual salary for TERI personnel

· Almost a 5 million reduction in contractual obligations to our vendors going forward. (My understanding is that Mr. Patrick was able to negotiate terms based more nearly on what our students' needs actually are)

· Several millions in cuts from athletics, including a sizeable reduction in athletic scholarships. (AD Bryant responded to the initial budget by making substantial cuts in persons and activities to free up roughly 1 million scholarships that he would otherwise not have)

The legislature also approved a special expenditure of 4 million in money to pay back debts, which will help remove a sizeable chunk of our outstanding obligations

(The WLTX report of this meeting seemed to be accurate: http://www.wltx.com/story/news/2015/06/30/sc-state-budget/29533705/)

Among the specific expedients planned to meet this budget.

· A 5/4 Fall Spring course split.

· 20 faculty to be released. (I believe that number includes the 12 who had...