Pictured Above: President Steve Currall sent out a letter on Sept. 3 calling for a pause in university hiring efforts and employee compensation increases.
Courtesy of USF
By Sophie Ojdanic
A letter from President Steve Currall advised faculty and staff to halt hiring efforts in an attempt to “preserve financial resources.”
The letter, sent Sept. 3, proposed a new policy with two objectives.
“First, it pauses all active employment searches that are taking place (unless there are offer letters outstanding as of today),” Currall said in his letter. “Searches may proceed on an exception basis only.
“Second, the policy signals that employee compensation increases also will only be considered on an exception basis, effective immediately.”
This means that employment searches must be halted, excluding job searches for student employees.
According to Currall’s letter, these changes come in place of other possible solutions to reducing budget.
“We must act to protect, to the extent possible, our most important assets: the faculty and staff that have worked hard to make the University of South Florida the preeminent institution that it is today,” Currall wrote.
In a Sept. 8 Board of Trustees meeting, Currall shared more plans for the university’s budget.
As described in the presentation, budget cut deliberations should be completed by the end of September. So far, the university has submitted scenarios for an 8.5 percent, 10 percent, 12.5 percent and 15 percent reduction to the Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida.
“We think this is putting us on the right path to make good stewardship decisions – responsible decisions,” Currall said in the meeting.
Actions taken, according to Currall, included a 12 percent reduction in the USF Athletics budget and the halt of all staff and faculty travel, in addition to the pauses in hiring and employee compensation increases.
Currall’s presentation also included a breakdown of legislative budget request priorities, with $50 million devoted to faculty recruitment and retention, $2 million devoted to undergraduate student retention and recruitment, $3.5 million devoted to graduate students and $2.5 million devoted to “national and global research partnerships.”
“This request is actually just the first phase of a multi-year investment plan that can be used in concert with other external and philanthropic funds contributed by the university,” Currall said. “The university has demonstrated an extraordinary track record of using targeted investments to achieve results.”
‘We must act to protect … our most important assets’
Dear colleagues:
As I have shared with many of you and our Board of Trustees, higher education is experiencing challenging times. Today’s challenges require the University of South Florida’s leadership to think strategically about the university’s budget.
We must all be responsible stewards of the resources entrusted to us by the Governor, the Legislature, donors, and strategic partners. Our stewardship also compels us to continue delivering a first-rate education, serve our communities and sustain our innovative research enterprise.
We must act to protect, to the extent possible, our most important assets: the faculty and staff that have worked hard to make the University of South Florida the preeminent institution that it is today.
To meet those stewardship goals, we must preserve our financial resources and make sure that they are strategically focused. Financial stewardship requires us to prudently adopt practices to preserve those resources.
Today, a policy is being circulated that will accomplish two objectives. First, it pauses all active employment searches that are taking place (unless there are offer letters outstanding as of today). Searches may proceed on an exception basis only. Second, the policy signals that employee compensation increases also will only be considered on an exception basis, effective immediately…
Many universities, including other preeminent universities in Florida, are enacting similar provisions to address their financial challenges.
I appreciate your partnership as we respond to the current challenges, bringing more focus to our strategic goals as a university.
Steven C. Currall
President and Professor
