Give us a solution

Imagine waking up and going to your job, that you have worked at for 20 years, only to find out that your position has been terminated. How gut wrenching would that be to find out that your livelihood is no longer need after all those years?

That is exactly what happened to Shahla Alavi, a professor in the department of computer science and information systems. Her position was eliminated due to budget cuts and the lack in students majoring in computer science and information systems at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Recently, faculty at UNK has offered to take pay cuts to ease the strain of these hard economic times. Although it might not be possible for teachers to take pay cuts due to union rules that govern faculty pay, it is very admirable these teachers at the university are willing to reduce their income for the betterment of the college. The teachers at UNK have seemed to come to the realization that it is better to keep their jobs and lose a little money than to be terminated from their positions indefinately.

Pay cuts could also be made in other areas of the university. Higher administrative jobs could help by taking reduced pay, but no suggestion of this sort has been made. According to Chancellor Doug Christensen, UNK needs to prepare to do some things to reach the budget shortfalls, but at this point in time they do not know the full scope of what this budget cut will do.

J.B. Miliken, the University of Nebraska president, also stated that it is too early to settle on a solution to this current economic challenge.

It seems that there is a lot of talk about how much money is not available to the university, but there is no talk of a solution. The only solution that has been voiced clearly is the pay cuts proposed by UNK’s own faculty. It might be too early to panic according to Christensen and Miliken, but there must be some solution to ease the worry of faculty and others employed by the college.

If faculty are released from their positions they will obviously be disheartened and have to find other means of employment, but it will also be damaging to the university. It will lower the morale of those that are still employed with the college and it will also cause a decrease in the classes that are offered, making it more difficult for students to graduate.

The solution being proposed by the UNK faculty is praiseworthy. No one wants to see people lose their jobs. Just ask Shahla Alavi if she would have rather taken a pay cut or loser her job?

It is important the university officials come up with a solution soon so that no more faculty have to join Alavi in the unemployment line.