In their comments, staff also offered a variety of potential solutions, some cautions, and even support for the leader whose plan will do away with staff jobs. Engstrom has pointed to employee increases even as enrollment has dropped, and he has said his goal is to "right size" UM based on national employee-to-student standards.

"President Engstrom should stay the course and stay strong," according to one comment summarizing feedback from staff.

Other staff members do heap blame on the president, Mangold said. However, Judy Wellert, who supports the Staff Senate, believes some are sympathetic partly because they deal with tight budgets at home.

"The classified staff deal with their own personal budgets all the time. They're not receiving the high salaries. They're understanding of President Engstrom's and the administration's need to balance the budget to perhaps a greater extent than some higher-paid people on campus," Wellert said.

Some employees have questioned the reason Engstrom didn't take actions sooner that might have prevented the situation from turning dire, but Wellert also said there's another way to look at it.