As many students at West Virginia University struggle with the fact that their school faces massive budget cuts, which put several academic programs on the chopping block, an alternative plan has emerged that aims to reduce the carnage.<\/p>\n
The alternative comes as West Virginia University senior administrators — many of whom make six-figure salaries — recently agreed to a 10 percent voluntary pay cut, West Virginia Watch<\/em> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n WVU\u2019s vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, for example, makes<\/a> $234,537 per year plus benefits.<\/p>\n University officials also recently announced that \u201cRob Alsop, who championed the campus changes known as \u2018Academic Transformation\u2019 to lawmakers, will leave his position as vice president of strategic initiatives. Alsop received an annual salary of around $400,000,\u201d WV Watch<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n A group of professors and stakeholders calling themselves Stewards of WVU had suggested a combination of these measures and more to bridge the public school\u2019s $45 million budget deficit as part of their alternative plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n The recent announcements show WVU President E. Gordon Gee and his team are \u201cadopting actions that Stewards are demanding,\u201d retired WVU Professor Frank DeGeorge said in an email to The College Fix.<\/em><\/p>\n He said a 10 percent reduction in the leadership team’s salary and benefits \u201cis not a small amount of money,\u201d estimating it amounts to as much as $11 million if deans are included.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the surface it appears that Mr. Gee and [Provost Maryanne] Reed have finally realized that the Transformation Plan is not good for WVU,\u201d DeGeorge said. \u201cIt does not make WVU a stronger university.\u201d<\/p>\n