EIU Initiates Furlough Policy In Case It’s Needed

Eastern Illinois University now has a furlough policy to deal with the financial crunch facing higher education. But unlike the University of Illinois, there are no current plans to implement furloughs at EIU.

And if administrators make that decision, President Bill Perry says most collective bargaining agreements on the campus at Charleston currently don't include furlough language, including those for faculty. As things stand, he says about a fourth of employees at Eastern would be impacted. Some contracts call for layoffs instead of furloughs. Perry says there are those who feel that's the best option since layoffs been part of those contracts for a long time. "Other people are of the opinion with furloughs no one loses their job entirely," says Perry. "Everyone in the group shares a little bit of the pain. So you can see the arguments on both sides as to the right way to proceed. Rarely in a university do you have unanimty on any issue, right?"

The furlough policy released by Perry Thursday afternoon calls for an employee to take up to 24 furlough days over a 12-month span. He says EIU would try to provide 30 days notice before the implantation of furloughs. Eastern raised its housing costs last week, and implemented a hiring freeze. EIU is still owed about $33 million from the state. Perry says a tuition hike could happen, but no figure has been discussed.