While the university has continued operating during the pandemic, we are working toward a gradual re-opening of the campus for faculty and staff that will likely begin on May 26, 2020. The university is currently evaluating a number of recommendations from task forces and constituency groups for a reintegration plan that preserves the health and safety of its faculty and staff, and is consistent with the governor’s recently announced
Plan to Reopen Kansas.
Our Provost, Dr. Richard Muma, formed seven work groups to develop and implement Shockers United strategies to ensure we continue to provide a safe and healthy campus when employees and, eventually students and visitors, return.
Here are some highlights:
1. We are working on a plan to begin reopening the campus beginning May 26. This does not mean, however, that all employees will be expected to return to work. During the summer term, departments should look for ways to stagger work schedules and to continue to allow employees to work remotely to mitigate this pandemic unless it is essential that they report to campus. Each department’s business hours and remote work schedule may look different depending on the demands of the department and the needs of the employees in that department.
2. When on campus, there will be a strong emphasis on each person taking responsibility to protect themselves and others from the Coronavirus infection. That means daily wellness self-checks, social distancing, limited congregation, wearing face coverings (or masks as appropriate), disinfecting spaces and limiting non-essential travel.
3. All faculty will design flexibility into fall semester course delivery (e.g., hybrid, online, modified schedule) to limit disruption and assure quality learning outcomes if another stay-at-home period is needed.
4. Continued support for students will include increased availability of grants, scholarships and campus employment opportunities.
5. Students and their advisors will stay connected, to keep students on path to graduation and understanding financial needs to graduate with the least possible debt.
6. University research activity and space will be secured and appropriately functioning in line with health and safety guidelines.
7. The university will work with its Innovation Campus partners in an effort to coordinate reopening plans.
There are many details being worked out but it’s apparent there are going to be new ways that we will be operating the campus and delivering on-campus education.
If we can do so safely,
we will welcome our students back to campus in August and offer in-person education for the fall semester.
COVID-19 IMPACTS TO OUR BUDGET
The economy of our country and state, and all those who live in our region, have been hit hard by the pandemic. Wichita State University is no different. We are currently projecting a $6.8 million budget shortfall for the new fiscal year beginning July 1. This is from anticipated lower enrollment, especially of international students, who represent about 10% of our student population.
This does not include financial impacts to our athletics department, student life and other lost revenue streams, nor does it include the millions of dollars we refunded to our students and families for housing, dining and parking during this spring semester.
While we face these challenges, our top priorities are to ensure that we continue to deliver the most impactful possible student experience, minimize impacts to our faculty and staff and continue to partner with our community as we work together for the economic recovery of our region.
So, our initial efforts to address the budget gap include:
- Campus wide hiring freeze, with rare exceptions
- Executive leadership furloughs or equivalent salary reduction, for the President, President's Executive Team, Deans, Athletics senior administration and coaches
- Halting discretionary spending
- An initial across-the-board 2% budget reduction
- Examining additional mitigation steps
We will continue to monitor the situation. The biggest impact to our students and families will be if there is a state budget cut to higher education. That would necessitate further mitigation strategies.
The Kansas Board of Regents has been in communication with Gov. Kelly and has requested support from the governor from the federal CARES Act, which allocates money to the governor under the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund. This in addition to a portion of the appropriation to be used by state agencies for their coronavirus response and would help stabilize our Kansas institutions of higher education.
Let us hope that the economy rebounds in the near-term, as we begin to open up the state.
SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS
This is a personal request from me. This week we have started to distribute to our eligible students the $4.4M in CARES stimulus funding just received from the federal government. Over 2,800 Pell-eligible students will immediately receive $1,000 for unforeseen emergency expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to COVID-19.
Our Financial Aid office is working with additional eligible students who also have financial needs and will process their applications soon.
However, this is not enough! We expect to exhaust these funds rapidly!
Many of our students, including our international students and undocumented students, do not qualify for this federal stimulus and are in dire need of financial aid for basic items such as food, health insurance, rent etc.
That is why my wife and I recently made the decision to contribute 10% of my salary automatically to our Wichita State University Foundation to support the WSU COVID-19 Emergency Fund for our students.
