Maryland universities furlough workers, too
Sun higher education reporter Steve Kiehl reports this morning that the University System of Maryland Board of Regents voted to require its employees to take furloughs of between two and five days, a move that is expected to save $16 million. The move comes on the heels of Gov. O'Malley's announcement that he's furloughing all executive branch employees (except for public safety types) for a like amount of time.
The regents debated how to structure the furlough to avoid canceling classes if possible (the UB president said he'd ask profs to schedule furloughs on days when they didn't teach), though the board rejected an amendment from its student member that would have prohibited the canceling of classes. Yes, that's right. The STUDENT MEMBER wanted to avoid any canceled classes.
Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how this one plays. A lot of state employees were angry over O'Malley's furlough plan, and this one has the real potential to divide some of the system's highly paid employees (professors, administrators, etc.) from the blue-collar workers who sweep the floors, run the cafeterias, etc.
