Students walk to the Mountainlair on the campus of West Virginia University. (Photo Provided)

CHARLESTON — A group led by a West Virginia University business school professor released an alternative plan last week that would address the university’s $45 million budget hole without making any of the program cuts and faculty reductions university officials have already approved.

A group, going by the name Stewards of WVU, released a plan on Oct. 31 billed as an alternative to the Academic Transformation plan the university is undergoing. Stewards of WVU is unaffiliated with WVU.

The WVU Stewardship Plan would meet a $45 million expense reduction target set by the university without program discontinuations, reductions of faculty, or non-renewal of contracts.

“Stewards of WVU are here to say, ‘There are better options,'” wrote Frank A. DaGeorge, a faculty member of the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at WVU for 21 years.

DaGeorge retired from the university earlier this year after being informed his contract was not being renewed, but returned as adjunct faculty in August. Other members of the Stewards of WVU remain anonymous.

“Myself and some other members of the affected WVU community, many of which understandably seek to remain unnamed, developed the Stewardship Plan because its ideas are good for WVU and need to be part of this conversation,” DaGeorge wrote. “We’re sharing it because we believe the WVU community deserves to know this vital information about all the future possibilities available to WVU. And then we can choose our future!”

The Stewardship plan calls for the elimination of three General Institutional Support (GIS) employees, resulting in $700,000 in savings. That proposal assumes a savings of $1.9 million from the elimination of those positions, with a $1.3 million cost estimated for a new WVU president and possible salary increases for other GIS staff who would take on the duties of the eliminated GIS staff positions.

Another $21 million in savings would come from a proposed 15% reduction in GIS operating expenses. GIS includes executive management, fiscal operations, general administrative and logistical support, administrative computing support, public relations and development, sponsored projects administration, and radiation waste disposal.

The Stewardship plan incorporates $9.7 million in savings from estimated voluntary workforce reduction announced in May, and $13.6 million in savings from a proposed 2.4% across-the-board salary reduction for all other WVU employees. Exemptions include certain WVU athletics employees and all WVU employees earning less than $75,000.

WVU President E. Gordon Gee announced his retirement plan at the end of July once his extended contract expires on June 30, 2025. Gee’s base salary was $800,000 as of his 2019 three-year contract extension. Chris DeBord, the vice president of Talent and Culture, announced in August that he will retire before the end of the year with his position being eliminated and a restructure of the unit. According to the State Auditor’s Office, DeBord’s salary in 2022 was $344,809.

Rob Alsop, the vice president of Strategic Initiatives, will leave his position effective Nov. 18 and serve as a special advisor to Gee through Jan. 31, 2024. Alsop’s compensation as of 2022 was $426,726. The Strategic Initiatives unit — which includes 16 employees, many of whom are also listed in university leadership — will also be restructured.

“It is not my intent to appoint a replacement,” Gee said Monday during a meeting of WVU’s Faculty Senate. “We are in the process of looking at how we can best reorganize that part of the university and I want to make that clear.”

In his blog post, DaGeorge said Stewards of WVU decided to go public with their Stewardship plan after seeing the press release about Alsop’s impending retirement, seeing an opportunity to sway public opinion towards their alternative plan.

“Without a signature of someone to take ownership of the Stewardship Plan (and with the administration learning of it through our communications in the process), my very small team and I were prepared to stop. Until Mr. Gee announced the resignation of Mr. Alsop,” DaGeorge wrote.

Since last week, it has been revealed that WVU leadership has been asked to volunteer for salary cuts. According to West Virginia Watch, a non-profit news outlet, Gee announced at Monday’s WVU Faculty Senate meeting that a majority of the university’s leadership agreed to a voluntary 10% reduction in salary.

“I’ve asked the senior leaders of the university to reduce their salaries by 10% monetarily,” Gee said. “The majority have done so, and that was done several months ago when I asked them to do that. That has taken place, and we will keep that in place until the university rights itself financially.”

It is unknown how many agreed to take the cut, though one of those who did agree was WVU Provost Maryanne Reed, who earned $435,561 in 2022 according to the State Auditor’s Office. A 10% salary cut based on her 2022 salary would result in an annual cut of $43,561.

The WVU Board of Governors approved in September the elimination of 10 undergraduate programs and 18 graduate programs, and the merging of three other programs into existing degrees as part of phase two of the Academic Transformation initiative that first began in 2016 at the urging of the board.

The university began notifying affected faculty last month whether they were part of the reduction in force (RIF) plans, with layoffs to begin by May. WVU officials are also looking at changes in 130 different programs, including further reducing faculty, merging programs, discontinuing the programs, or leaving the programs alone. Another 19 student-support programs are under review.

WVU is trying to close a $45 million hole in its current $1.2 billion fiscal year 2024 budget and stave off the potential for a $75 million structural deficit by 2028. By May, as many as 300 faculty and staff could lose their jobs, not counting the approximately 130 employee positions cut in July after the board approved the new budget. Officials hope to use the savings from cuts to fill this year’s hole and reinvest further into the more than 300 existing degree programs WVU will continue to offer.

The Stewardship plan, if implemented, would save between 219 and 429 jobs and keep the 28 academic programs being eliminated in place. It would likely take a vote of the WVU Board of Governors to rescind the Academic Transformation process. The next board of governors meeting is Nov. 17. But WVU spokesperson April Kaull said in a statement Tuesday afternoon there are no plans to pause Academic Transformation.

“…No, we will not pause implementing the necessary recommendations approved by the Board of Governors,” Kaull said. “As we’ve said before, the University is taking a strategic approach to realign all areas of the WVU System to become the modern land-grant University that is increasingly relevant to the needs of today’s students and our global society while also adjusting our budget, so we remain financially sound for the future.”

However, in a statement provided Tuesday afternoon, DeGeorge believes recent actions by WVU – leadership salary cuts and announced impending departures of WVU officials such as Alsop – are signs that some of their Stewardship plan ideas have merit.

“Though WVU no-doubt denies it, both of these actions follow almost immediately from WVU leadership learning of SOWVU’s Stewardship Plan, which is gaining traction publicly,” DeGeorge said. “It is good that they are seeing the merits of the Stewardship Plan and are beginning to implement parts of it. They should continue and implement the Stewardship Plan fully, so that we can meet the full $45M budget gap WITHOUT having to cut the 32 majors and layoff 200-400 mostly teaching faculty.”