200 VU employees furloughed

[wh]

Valparaiso University furloughs 200 employees; president to take 30% pay cut in COVID-19 reductions

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/valparaiso-university-furloughs-200-employees-president-to-take-30-pay-cut-in-covid-19-reductions/article_38544283-26d4-53b6-a7ef-3a4314fc5b21.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

[vu84v2]

Salary cuts are difficult and being furloughed is even worse, but these are likely the sort of steps necessary to sustain the university. The salary decrease that increases based on base pay also sounds like a good way to go about this.

[crusadermoe]

Those actions sound pretty reasonable to me.   Shared sacrifice and proportional above $48,000 salary level.  And the leader leadsin terms of a cut.  Kudos to him and the board.   

This is a very scary time for private schools across the land.   Short-term costs may be just the tip of the iceberg.  If a family decides that the costs don't work for the first year of 2020-2021 entry into a school, it is not a long step to deciding to forego the whole idea.

[vu72]

No there aren't anymore layoffs/firings that I am aware of but didn't want to start a new thread for one question.  You faculty people can probably be best at answering it. 

Here goes:  What the heck was Mark Bierman thinking when he left the Provost spot for the Presidency of Blackburn College? Could it be as simple as expecting the new President to want his own guy/gal so get out while the getting is good?  Otherwise, I view it as taking over the captaincy of the Titanic.  Blackburn is a very small liberal arts school with 486 students and an endowment of $26 million and is located in farm country. Good luck with that Mark!

[vu84v2]

No there aren't anymore layoffs/firings that I am aware of but didn't want to start a new thread for one question.  You faculty people can probably be best at answering it. 

Here goes:  What the heck was Mark Bierman thinking when he left the Provost spot for the Presidency of Blackburn College? Could it be as simple as expecting the new President to want his own guy/gal so get out while the getting is good?  Otherwise, I view it as taking over the captaincy of the Titanic.  Blackburn is a very small liberal arts school with 486 students and an endowment of $26 million and is located in farm country. Good luck with that Mark!

One additional possibility is that Bierman was offered something akin to a golden parachute by Blackburn. Blackburn may have been so desperate to get a new President given their tenuous situaiton during the pandemic that they included terms in which Bierman gets a payout if Blackburn goes under. An alternative to this may be a large bonus paid to Bierman for each year Blackburn avoids going under. I honestly don't know why he went there, but I could really see a college like Blackburn being desperate to get a capable body.

[valpotx]

He gets President experience, which might help him in his next stop.

[vu72]

He gets President experience, which might help him in his next stop.

Well, with al due respect to Blackburn, being the President of a school with 400 plus kids is kinda like saying "I was a starter on the freshman team so I should now starter on the varsity" He was number 2 at a comprehensive university with multiple professional schools as well as Christ College. It seems to me that he needed to excite as he also applied at other schools.

[valpo95]

He gets President experience, which might help him in his next stop.

Well, with al due respect to Blackburn, being the President of a school with 400 plus kids is kinda like saying "I was a starter on the freshman team so I should now starter on the varsity" He was number 2 at a comprehensive university with multiple professional schools as well as Christ College. It seems to me that he needed to excite as he also applied at other schools.

I have no inside knowledge, yet Dr. Biermann was provost at Valpo for six years, so staying for another year does not substantially to his background. Being named a president, even at a very small institution, probably enhances his profile. In addition, he would have been the logical choice to be the interim president at VU yet that did not occur. Beyond this, many people could see the substantial drop in new enrollees in the Fall of 2019, which will lead to thee difficult years even without the COVID-19 issues. So he could stay in challenging circumstances and then possibly be replaced by a new president who wants his/her own team. Or, he could get a promotion to be president at a lesser institution and pick his own exit.

Personally, I don't begrudge him for leaving - he seemed to be well-liked and well-respected at VU, and worked hard during his time as Provost. If he wants the next challenge, good for him!