TO: All Campus Employees
FR: President Ming-Tung “Mike” Lee
Confronted with enrollment reduction in the past few years, the campus experienced a significant budget shortfall. Enrollment reductions and budget impacts are national issues that have affected many of the CSU campuses, including SSU. Last August, as I began my appointment as Interim President, Interim Chancellor Koester communicated to me the need to reassess and realign our campus programs and operations to reach a balanced budget by June 2024. We knew that realizing this goal would not only require a painstaking and critical review of the programs and services at the university, but it would also require us to think creatively about what is feasible for us to do to balance the budget.
One of our stated goals is to align staff levels to the current size of campus enrollment. Some of our campus activities, such as the number of purchase orders and invoices, replacing vacant positions, processing billing and receivables, and cleaning and maintenance of space may be directly associated with reduced enrollment and staff, but other aspects of campus are not directly correlated to campus size. We must continue to support purchasing processes, for example, because a campus of any size needs those services. The size of our campus space and grounds will remain the same, and we will have to continue to maintain and pay the utilities regardless of enrollment.
To align staff levels with our current enrollment, we implemented the Early Exit Program and the VSIP (Voluntary Separation Incentive Program), which allowed some staff to voluntarily leave their positions at SSU. While these programs and some loss of staff through attrition reduced our workforce, the reductions did not attain the needed financial savings or align workforce to current enrollment. In the meantime, we continue to realign services and redistribute work as managers deem appropriate.
One constant in all these initiatives is that we take into consideration potential impacts on our current workforce and the ability to maintain a sustainable work-life balance. To that end, I implore managers to remain mindful of likely impacts in realigning services and redistributing work. If, for example, staff takes on additional work within their current classification, please prioritize the most important and urgent work so staff can complete their assignments within a typical work-week (e.g., 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week). If staff members are assigned additional work outside the scope of their current classification, please consult with Human Resources to assess the impacts of such work on staff, including the possible need for reclassification. Our goal is to continue to provide critical services and programs while also attending to the impact realignment may have on our existing staff.
I continue to work with campus leadership and our governance partners to review, enhance, and support our efforts to balance the budget without destroying the very essence of who we are – a moderately sized public liberal arts and sciences institution known for a talented, vibrant, increasingly diverse, highly engaged campus community. We will continue to provide opportunities for internal promotions and range adjustments as warranted by the changes in work assignments, and I continue to support filling positions in critical areas. I want staff to know that I see the commitment, the going above and beyond, and the steadfast dedication to serving our Seawolf community. I will continue to be focused on ensuring that there is work-life balance, and that fair compensation remains a high priority even as we work to stabilize the budget.