FAYETTEVILLE -- Colleges and universities in the state so far have mostly been able to keep researchers on the payrolls during the partial federal government shutdown, but the closure has led to penny-pinching and at least one furlough.
About 100 faculty and staff members and graduate students at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville get their salaries in whole or in part from federal grants or contracts, according to data that UA supplied to the state Department of Higher Education and that was released under the state's public-disclosure law.
"To date, none have been furloughed; we will continue to evaluate the situation closely from week to week, and hope the shutdown is resolved soon," UA-Fayetteville spokesman Mark Rushing said in an email. The figures for those affected include about 70 graduate assistants, who are graduate students who can be paid out of grant funds awarded to faculty members, Rushing said.
Arkansas State University has furloughed a biology researcher whose funding came from the National Science Foundation, according to the university and state Department of Higher Education records.
Lori Winn, the Jonesboro university's assistant vice chancellor for human resources, said in a statement that "five others have their compensation reduced to match the percentage of their salary that is federally funded." Such reductions can be considered partial furloughs.
In addition, nine graduate students working on grant-related projects have been affected, plus 27 hourly student workers, according to Winn. ASU spokesman Bill Smith said affected students might be assigned work in other areas.
Winn said ASU "is following the state guidance regarding the compensation of students, faculty or staff whose employment is supported wholly or in part by federal grants or funding related to agencies that are impacted by the federal government shutdown."
UA-Fayetteville, instead of furloughs, so far has squeezed departmental or division budgets, with money coming from sources "other than state-appointed general revenue funds," according to a Jan. 8 internal memo from Jim Coleman, the school's provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. The memo was released under the state's public-disclosure law.
During a government shutdown in 2013, UA announced 19 furloughs and partial furloughs of faculty and staff members, citing guidance from an order by then-Gov. Mike Beebe. The 2013 federal government shutdown lasted 16 days. The current shutdown began Dec. 22 and is the longest in U.S. history.
The UA physics department cut about $75,000 from its semester budget to cover seven research assistantships -- positions held by doctoral students -- who receive funding from the National Science Foundation or Smithsonian Institution; as well as three undergraduate student scholarships funded by a National Science Foundation grant, said Lin Oliver, chairman of the department.
"We've been able to find those funds," Oliver said, though he added that "we had already allocated them for other things."
Once the shutdown ends, Oliver said, the federal funds will be available and the shifted money would be used for its original purpose -- or at least "hopefully," as that's how things have worked out in the past, he added.
For now, "we've asked all of our faculty to keep travel to an absolute minimum for the foreseeable future," Oliver said. "There simply aren't $100,000 piles of money sitting around for emergencies."
AFFECTED PROJECTS
The Fayetteville campus has not had furloughs, Rushing said, but two projects involving the U.S. Forest Service have been suspended because of the shutdown. Rushing said he did not have an estimate on money reallocated campuswide because of the government shutdown.
Arley Ward, president of the UA Graduate Professional Student Congress, said that if the shutdown continues, "there's no way this isn't massively devastating for grad assistants and the university."
UA and other public colleges and universities received memos from the state Department of Finance and Administration ordering a temporary suspension of government services relying on federal funding, with exceptions for public health, safety or welfare, and if federal documentation "guarantee[d] funding during the shutdown."
"Otherwise, if a program or employee is wholly or partially dependent on federal funding, they will be discontinued effective Saturday, December 22nd," stated a memo from Larry Walther, director of the state agency.
Coleman's Jan. 8 memo said it "appears the purpose of this directive is to avoid a situation where state-appropriated general revenue funds are used to cover the cost of operating programs."
Nick Fuller, deputy director for the Higher Education Department, said public colleges and universities were asked to provide a list of affected employees.
"We've gotten from all of the institutions now, I believe, and only one of them had a position they had a concern they would not have funding for," Fuller said. Northwest Arkansas Community College expressed a concern, Fuller said.
Lisa Anderson, the college's executive director of planning, effectiveness and public relations, said the U.S. Department of Justice notified the college Thursday that it would have continued access to grant funds. The dollars will allow a staff member to continue community outreach tied to the department's Office on Violence Against Women.
But uncertainty remains should the shutdown drag on. The response to the Higher Education Department's memo from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, dated Jan. 10, referred to having funds "to maintain the salary portion for these positions for a period of 60 days." The university's list included 17 positions.
Tracy Courage, news director for UALR, said in an email that the school has not issued furloughs and "has other indirect or program income (non-state appropriations) to fund these [positions] at least until the end of February."
Should the shutdown extend past that point, "we will have to evaluate our ability to continue to cover any federal salary portion," Courage said.
Coleman's Jan. 8 memo to UA deans listed 12 agencies "currently closed."
Oliver at the Fayetteville campus said affected federal agencies have operated differently during the shutdown. For example, physics students receive U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Defense funds, Oliver said. With those agencies not curtailed to the extent that the National Science Foundation is, "we can pay students on those grants, because we know -- at least for now -- we can still draw the money down from those," Oliver said.
If other agencies begin to follow the National Science Foundation in not allowing funds to be drawn down, "it will start to get prohibitive," Oliver said, noting the state's directive.
Oliver said UA's administrators and deans are offering help in examining budgets to find money and help graduate students avoid delays that can sidetrack them in earning their degrees.
"This research that they're doing on grants is their future," Oliver said.
Metro on 01/21/2019