Forcing faculty and staff to be furloughed during a pandemic is unethical and will hurt students. Salem State University has gotten level funding, 10 million dollars from the first Covid-19 stimulus bill, a recent 6 million dollar donation, and will be getting an additional 10 - 20 million in the newest Covid-19 bill. SSU also has money in the reserves, and is the only state college in Massachusetts that's furloughing its faculty. At this point, furloughing faculty seems stubborn. President Keenan and the Board of Trustees, please do NOT favor project BOLD over human lives. The furloughs are objectively unnecessary at this point. Please do not disrupt our education and faculty and staff’s lives by forcing them to take furloughs.
We are highly disappointed. President Keenan, cancel the furloughs now.