The University of Tulsa has announced that most of its staff but not faculty will be furloughed for at least two weeks in response to the growing financial loss from COVID-19.

TU Interim President Janet Levit outlined her plan to alleviate the pandemic’s impact on the college’s already strained budget in an email to employees Thursday afternoon. The temporary layoffs will affect 727 nonfaculty members, which equates to 84% of TU’s total nonfaculty workforce. The faculty will not have furloughs.

“It is with deep sadness that I have to inform you that we have made the tough decision to place staff in offices and divisions disproportionately impacted by the university’s remote operations on an extended furlough and to place almost all other staff on a two-week furlough,” Levit wrote.

“While all corners of our community will be affected, we must acknowledge that some segments of our staff will bear a heavier burden.”

About 130 employees in departments where remote work is difficult or impossible to achieve will be placed on extended furlough beginning Sunday. These furloughs may continue as late as July 31, depending on the progression of the disease, Levit said.

Affected areas of operation include athletics, the Gilcrease Museum, facilities management, housing, McFarlin Library and Collins Fitness Center.

Meanwhile, 595 administration and staff members will be furloughed for a two-week period between now and the end of the current financial year. These furloughs are being divided into four windows of time. Supervisors will work with their teams to schedule them in a way that “best accommodates individual needs yet preserves university operations,” Levit said.

Those with positions considered “absolutely necessary” during remote operations will be exempt from the furloughs, she said.

Some employees, including resident faculty members and certain athletic coaches, also won’t be furloughed due to the contractual nature of their employment. But the university is encouraging faculty wanting to help alleviate the university’s pandemic-related financial challenges to volunteer for salary reductions in May or June. Many coaches reportedly have agreed to take two weeks of unpaid leave.

Levit and the rest of the university’s leadership team will receive a salary reduction equivalent of two weeks’ salary between now and June 30.

TU’s unanticipated costs related to COVID-19 reportedly include $4.6 million in housing and dining refunds to students, lost athletics revenue and unexpected technology expenses.

Levit said she anticipates an additional loss of at least $5.5 million in revenue this summer and into the fall due to declining summer and freshman enrollment, reductions in student retention and the cancellation of summer institutes and camps.

“These losses, standing on top of a budget already operating in the red, could grow as our freshman class solidifies,” she said.

“Unfortunately, as you know, we had long-standing budgetary challenges before, which have been exacerbated. We now need to stand together and support TU, just as we have stood together and prioritized the protection of our community’s well-being and health.”

In January, the TU Board of Trustees acknowledged that the school has operated in the red each of the past seven years and recently received a significant downgrade in its credit rating. They established a goal to close a $14 million to $20 million budget gap over the next three years.

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