Henderson State University short of cash, sets staff furloughs
Henderson State University later this month will begin requiring employees to take one-day-per-week furloughs while campus leaders pursue a long-term strategy of program cuts in response to a cash crunch and depleted savings, according to documents presented to university staff and faculty members Thursday.
Chancellor Chuck Ambrose, who started on the job in November, in a phone interview said there's a need for immediate cost savings at the Arkadelphia campus -- including "fewer than a dozen" staff positions eliminated this fiscal year -- as well as more permanent changes.
"We failed to make our spending adjustments against the decline in enrollment. We've relied for two years on federal stimulus dollars to somewhat defer those decisions, and it's accumulated in the last part of the fiscal year, requiring us to act at a speed and a scale that's hurtful," Ambrose said.
Faculty and staff members heard Ambrose in a virtual meeting Thursday announce a plan to declare "financial exigency," a process outlined in the university's faculty handbook that could result in a hastening of program reductions.
Read more: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/feb/04/hsu-short-of-cash-sets-staff-furloughs/
Henderson State University is a public liberal arts university.