May 27 Campus Memo

Includes information about COVID-1 budget effective June 1, 2020.

May 27, 2020

Dear MICA Faculty and Staff,

Over the past two weeks, you were briefed about MICA’s budget planning for the next fiscal year at the May 11 Community Town Hall, the May 13 Faculty Assembly meeting, and the May 18 Staff Town Hall. On May 22, the MICA Board of Trustees reviewed and approved the COVID-1 budget and COVID-2 contingency plan as shared with you.  

The Board understands the still evolving scenarios for the upcoming academic and fiscal year, and supports a phased approach to adopt the COVID-1 budget measures first while we follow the R5 Roadmap and take a one-team approach to avert more severe COVID-2 measures. Accordingly, we will be implementing the following COVID-1 measures effective Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21), which begins on June 1, 2020.

Compensation-related:

  • Salary freeze for all staff and full-time faculty; there will not be a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase to salaries, staff equity increases or faculty step increases.
  • The scheduled 1.5% adjustment to the full-time faculty scale and potential increases to staff salaries based on the results of Segal Consulting’s third-party compensation study will be deferred.
  • MICA’s match to employee 403(b) plan contributions is suspended.
  • The President’s salary will be reduced by 15%, and the Vice Presidents’ and Vice Provosts’ salaries will be reduced by 10%.

If the FY21 year-end budget results can be balanced with sufficient funding also available for restoration of any of the above items, the administration and Board of Trustees will develop a plan for reinstatement at the end of FY21 in collaboration with the faculty and staff with the decisions being made in early May, 2021.

Non-compensation related:

  • Non-compensation divisional budgets will be reduced by $1.5 million.
  • The $512k reserve for future debt service will be deferred.
  • The $300k reserve for strategic plan initiatives will not be funded.

Per my May 12 Campus Memo, we will continue with the “right next step” approach and phase-by-phase planning that makes the best sense for MICA and our community. I share again two important dates for major institutional decisions and communications:

  • By July 6: The campus community will be informed of a more concrete Fall 2020 reopening plan, as shaped by the R5 work groups. The campus community will also be informed if COVID-1 budget coping measures need to be escalated towards the level of COVID-2.
  • August 1: If there is a need to augment COVID-1 level budget measures with COVID-2 level reductions, the new measures will likely begin on August 1. If salary reductions are unavoidable, MICA is committed to creating a progressive plan that provides higher percentage reductions to those who earn more and smaller percentage reductions to those who earn less.

If there are any questions, please contact Doug Mann at vpoperationsandfinance@mica.edu. Once again, I thank everyone for your One-Team MICA understanding and collaboration as we navigate together through the challenges of the pandemic crisis.

Sincerely,

Samuel Hoi
President