Dear Editor:

Firing employees should not be the solution to the latest economic crisis that SIUC faces. To lay off employees in this economy would be terrible and should be avoided at all costs.

SIUC is the economic engine in southern Illinois and as such, we have a responsibility to our people. Even talking about possible reductions in staff strikes terror in the hearts of many who simply cannot afford to be without a job.

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The economic pain should be spread among those on campus who can afford it. For example, 12-month employees who make $80,000 or more a year can be put on one-week furloughs. Or if that doesn’t reduce the budget enough, put them on two-week furloughs. If or when the state’s economy improves, furloughs can be lifted. It would be better to reduce high salaries on a temporary basis than to make even a few families suffer losing an entire paycheck.’

In 2003, during an earlier budget crisis, 82 layoff notices were sent to civil service employees. Although many of those employees were able to find other jobs at the university, the bumping allowed by their contracts resulted in chaos in many offices and in many lives.

Civil service employees are highly skilled and have specialized jobs that take weeks or months to learn. They are not interchangeable. In my lengthy career at SIUC, that decision to fire civil service staff in 2003 was almost as bad for the campus as the infamous firing of 104 faculty members in the 1970s. Both of those were bad decisions and must not be repeated.

Carolyn Donow

emeritus administrative professional in research development and administration