On Wednesday, the horrific mess that is the budget crisis of 2009 landed its first major blow.
That blow took the form of mandatory furloughs — multiple-day unpaid leaves of absence — for all ASU faculty, staff and administrators. All 12,000 of them.
Obviously, the side effects of the furloughs, which will range from 10 to 15 days, will be harmful to the basic functionality of the University; the day-to-day flow of the school will likely be disrupted, papers could go unprocessed, phone calls may go unanswered, classes may inevitably be canceled.
However, those effects — which will manifest themselves immediately, as the days of leave are to be taken before the fiscal year ends in June — will pale in comparison to the furlough requirement’s devastating human effects.
Naturally, the loss of any previously expected dollars would wreak havoc on the finances of the majority of ASU workers. It will hurt the livelihood of countless employees.
Even worse, employees who work paycheck to paycheck will be thrown into a most unenviable situation: trying to find a new way to supplement their income to pay for their most basic of needs. Thankfully, furloughed employees will be able to file for unemployment compensation to regain some lost pay, but will relief come soon enough for those in a deep bind?
We can only hope that those who serve us will find equally as dedicated people able to serve them in their time of need.
In a sad twist, we find ourselves, after spending weeks agonizing over the potential consequences of any budget cuts on the University itself, finally looking at its first negative results; they have not yet been imposed on the University, but rather on people.
If the student body has not yet noticed, this is more than just a student issue, and it needs to be treated as such. Increased tuition and state education rankings should no longer be the sole concerns moving forward.
Unfortunately, the gloom and doom is far from over. This could be just a mild beginning.
The furloughs have, for now, prevented further layoffs. As President Michael Crow explained in an e-mail sent to the ASU community on Wednesday, the University will not have to eliminate any more jobs this year. For finding a way to avert the loss of more jobs, Crow and his administration deserve great praise.
But this move, which will save approximately $24 million, leaves the University only a little more than one-third of the way toward meeting the budget reductions that could exceed $60 million in the current fiscal year.
That leaves us wondering what’s next.
It also leaves us pondering what the ASU community can do in the coming weeks. For starters, Wednesday’s showing at the state capitol — as impressive as the effort was by those who cared to attend — was not nearly enough.
Roughly 125,500 students are enrolled among the three state universities. Just more than 1,800 people, or nearly 1.5 percent of Arizona universities’ combined student population, showed up to protest.
As good as excuses that sleep, class, work or distance may be, they are not good enough to cover all 123,700 or so students who were not in attendance.
Do Arizona’s students not know what is happening? If not, we hope our enlightened readers will feel compelled to share their knowledge of the budget situation. Facebook, a catchy sign and or a friendly discussion will suffice.
Or worse, especially when considering the 12,000 ASU employees who went home with bad news on Wednesday, do Arizona’s students just not care?
