Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
More than 150 Wright State faculty and staff have taken a voluntary retirement incentive since it was offered this summer that is part of the university’s plan to balance its budget.
Those taking part in the program represent nearly one-third of WSU’s retirement-eligible employees. This includes 94 staff members, 40 faculty and 20 vice presidents, deans and directors.
University spokesman Seth Bauguess on Thursday called the effort a success.
Meanwhile, Wright State’s research arm is shedding workers and the faculty union is warning against teaching cuts.
Wright State’s plans call for cutting $27.7 million from its budget over two years. Additionally, it plans to use $18.9 million from reserves.
Marty Kich, president of the WSU chapter of the American Association of University Professors union, sent a strongly worded letter to the board of trustees and WSU President David Hopkins this week laying the budget shortfall at their feet.
“Given your chronically misplaced priorities and wanton negligence, it is beyond the pale to ask WSU students to suffer for your errors by reducing the full-time faculty and otherwise cutting academic units who deliver their education,” Kich wrote.
The AAUP claims that WSU is second highest in the state for the percentage of its payroll that goes to administrators.
“You need to trim administrative bloat and to cut entities that have generated costs rather than revenues and reinvest in the core mission of this university,” Kich wrote. “If you are either unable or unwilling to act in this way, then you should resign.”
The WSU administration declined to comment on the letter.
WSU has since June shed 20 full-time jobs and 28 interns from its research arm, Wright State Applied Research Corporation, according to documents obtained this week by the I-Team. This includes seven people cut due to “lack of funding.”
Among the departures are WSARC President Terry Rapoch, who retired Sept. 6. He served as WSARC president since 2011 and was compensated $125,393 last year, according to the I-Team Payroll Project.
WSU finance director Jeff Ulliman told trustees at a meeting last month that WSARC had been losing money since 2010 and they were making efforts to bring it into the black.
Trustees meet Friday for a day-long meeting to discuss this and other issues.
Other than the budget, other items on the agenda include approving a $365,000 contract with the law firm Dinsmore and Shohl, which provides trustees legal guidance on issues including the ongoing federal investigation into possible immigration law violations that led to high-level terminations and yearlong-plus suspensions.
And trustees will consider a policy on “affiliated entities” — companies and nonprofits separate but sometimes controlled by WSU officials. One of these, Double Bowler Properties, has quietly been acquiring office buildings across Colonel Glenn Highway and now has assets worth $14.8 million, according to the nonprofit monitoring service Guidestar.
