UK workers: President Capilouto, other top earners should take pay cuts to make up shortfall
More than 100 student employees and community members at the University of Kentucky have sent a letter to state and university officials asking President Eli Capilouto and other top-earning administrators to take pay cuts to make up for an expected $70 million shortfall in the university’s next budget.
“The University of Kentucky should follow the lead of the University of Louisville and cut salaries of the administrators at the top instead of laying off important staff and cutting promised funding to graduate students,” said Zeke Perkins, a graduate instructor in English at UK.
UK announced last week that across both the university and UK HealthCare more than 1,700 people would be furloughed. Most of those furloughs—1,500 —were at UK HealthCare. Some health care employees may only be furloughed for a few days. Others could be fuloughed for weeks, UK officials said last week.
Separately, the university has said coronavirus-related revenue shortfalls, coupled with ongoing expenses means it will have to cut more than $70 million from the university’s budget that starts July 1. UK has said there could be lay offs in addition to the furloughs. It has also said it will cut contributions to employee retirements from 10 percent of employees’ salaries to 5 percent, among other cost-cutting measures.
The University of Louisville and other colleges and universities are facing similar budget woes. UofL announced in early April it was going to cut top administrator salaries and other employee compensation. UofL has also temporarily cut retirement benefits for all employees. It has also furloughed staff.
In a press release, university student workers said top administrators at UK should follow UofL’s lead. Asking staff who have limited job protections and lower salaries to make sacrifices without top administrators doing the same is bad leadership, it said.
“They’re asking for sacrifices from people least able to make them,” says Megan Parker, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology. “Basically, we are supposed to accept that sacrifices have to be made, but they are expecting these sacrifices from people unable to make significant contributions. Those at the top should be expected to make appropriate sacrifices and contributions themselves.”
Capilouto made approximately $1.5 million in 2018.
Jay Blanton, a spokesman for UK, has previously said the university discussed pay cuts when it was debating how to slash spending to make up for the revenue shortfall. If the university cuts pay, it also affects retirement benefits because the university’s contribution is based on a percentage of employee pay.
UK has not taken pay cuts off the table if revenues continue to fall short into the fall and winter, university officials said.
“We hope this series of steps we are taking gets us where we need to be, even as we know additional steps might be necessary in what remains a very fluid and tough environment,” Blanton said in a statement last week.
Ash Baker, a graduate instructor in English, said graduate instructors believe the bulk of the cuts should be shouldered by those who can afford it.
“We would be a little more sympathetic to their argument if we got retirement benefits,” Baker said.
In addition, the letter also asked that graduate-level instructors be paid a living wage and have full health care benefits, among other demands. Baker said most graduate instructors have basic health insurance that does not cover catastrophic illness, including hospitalization for coronavirus.
Most graduate instructors live off of stipends or research grants. Many of those instructors are struggling to complete those graduate research projects because all labs and libraries are closed, Baker said. Those graduate instructors are asking the university for more time and money to complete those graduate-level studies needed for master’s degrees or to meet Ph.D. course requirements.
The graduate and other student workers said UK’s budget problems are not new. More than a decade of state budget cuts to higher education has shifted more of that cost to students.
“The resulting financial burdens have largely been shifted onto students, who are paying higher tuition rates every year, and lower-level employees and graduate workers, who are denied a living wage and comprehensive health benefits, said Rachel Davis, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at UK. “These basic demands are needed now more than ever, and the pandemic should not be used to shirk state and university responsibility.”
Many of those that signed the letter are part of the first-ever union for UK and other Kentucky university employees, Kentucky United Campus Workers , UCW, which is an affiliate of the Communication Workers of America. Baker said the affiliate was charted in early March.
UK Athletics, which is separate from UK and UK HealthCare, has not yet announced cost-cutting measures or cuts to top coaches’ salaries. UofL and Western Kentucky University coaches have taken pay cuts to make up for shortfalls. Still, if UK coaches took pay cuts, that would not help offset the $70 million shortfall in the university’s general fund budget. Athletics and the university are separate.
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 2:14 PM.
