Last week, President James Birge announced cuts in healthcare benefits and monthly pension contributions of all non-union employees as a part of a continuing effort to address Franklin Pierce University’s financial issues.
On Wednesday, April 28, the faculty’s union known as the Rindge Faculty Federation (RFF) convened a meeting open to all university faculty and staff, in which approximately 71 attended. Richard Roth, president of RFF, hoped the meeting would provide an environment in which non-union and union members could openly address the university’s budget challenges. Last Thursday, April 29, Birge held a Town Hall Meeting where he answered questions from the community in regards to healthcare plans, enrollment, and the economy’s effect on Franklin Pierce.
Rumors of potential layoffs were dispelled by the administration. While neither Birge nor Provost Kim Mooney would rule out such action in the future, both said it would be a last resort. “There have not been any conversations about layoffs,” said Birge. “Unfortunately we do have to make decisions about changes in benefits.”
The university is currently building its budget based on next year’s enrollment, which it expects to be 1301 at the undergraduate level at the College at Rindge. According to Provost Kim Mooney, because tuition supports the operations of the university, enrollment and retention are key considerations in forecasting the institution’s budget. “This very rich benefits plan is not sustainable for the university,” said Mooney.
According to Article 16 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, a contract between both the RFF and the University Administration, if Franklin Pierce is experiencing or believes that it will experience “financial exigency,” the president must constitute an Institutional Resources Committee (IRC). The IRC is to be composed of the University President and the RFF President, each with two designees.
According to Roth, the purpose of the IRC is to help with the budget, and it remains open to working with the administration per terms of the contract. “If we are talking about changes in benefits and salaries, the IRC is the vehicle for doing that,” he said. “We are not sure why the president once again refused to convene the IRC.”
“Instead we anticipated that the university might attempt to create a split between the faculty and the rest of the employees. It is a fairly common technique in unionized places. So we convened a meeting as the RFF executive board to anticipate problems rather than react to them,” said Roth.
Last spring Mooney, then Interim President, invoked the IRC, during which time budget cuts were made without affecting the salaries or benefits of any Franklin Pierce employees. “Despite the IRC, we were in fiscal trouble in the fall,” said Birge.
In regards to invoking the IRC now, “I don’t believe the IRC would be productive for us,” said Birge. “I am concerned that it would take a significant amount of time.”
As the university tries to align its healthcare plan with the fiscal year, which is July 1 to June 30, “we are up against a firm deadline” from Harvard Pilgrim, the university’s provider, said Mooney.
Also last spring, the IRC wrote a report which the RFF executive board viewed as a model of collaborative decision making. However, “It was never shared with the public, despite unanimous recommendation of the IRC,” said Doug Ley, vice president of RFF. “[Birge] did have the report, but they decided to ignore suggestions to streamline the process, [and] then complain now it takes too much time.”
In the fall, the RFF had been asked once again to help find cuts in the budget, but was forced to revoke its participation after “the university was unwilling to invoke the IRC,” said Roth. As a result, Birge convened an ad hoc committee, which made other budget cuts without the transparency required by the IRC.
“We will not take anything off the table. If we are convinced by the financial information that we need to give back some benefits temporarily, or that we need to take pay cuts temporarily, or even that faculty layoffs are ultimately needed, we accept that,” said Roth.
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