Furloughs for Georgia professors?

The AJC reported today that University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis told a House budget panel that furloughs may happen for University System employees if drastic spending cuts have to be made quickly. This comes after Davis' statement in January that he was "philosophically opposed" to furloughs.

I found this interesting because in a Jan. 30 article I wrote for The Red & Black, I referenced that very comment and even asked UGA President Michael Adams what he thought of furloughs. At the end of the article, I wrote:

The Board of Regents has no intentions of furloughing higher education employees in the state, Chancellor Erroll B. Davis said to the Georgia General Assembly Appropriations Committee last week. Furloughs place employees on a temporary non-pay and non-duty status during times of low funding.

"It's pretty difficult to furlough professors," Adams said. "We basically have a contract with [students] to teach whatever four or five classes [they] have registered for. We have hired faculty on contract to teach those courses."

"Those are things that unless the Regents were to declare a financial exigency, we have no option but to honor," he said.

© Copyright 2009 The Red and Black

I'm interested to see where this goes. I don't think it's enough to call for a follow-up story, but if more cuts are made soon and the prospect of furloughs grows, then I will suggest running one. I believe the state legislature ends its session next month, so the next budget - and its cuts - should be finalized around then.

I really like working the administration beat. Even though crime was interesting in a voyeuristic kind of way, nothing beats covering pertinent topics that a lot of readers care about.