Just last year, a furlough pandemic spread through California State University campuses faster than the H1N1 scare traveled through the Twitterverse.

The 12-month furlough duration that prompted an estimated 400 students, faculty and staff to walk out in protest, as well as the 32 percent fee increase, cuts of hundreds of courses and loss of nearly 330 employees,has come to an end.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Monday to reinstate furloughs for state civil service employees as of Aug. 1, 2011. The order was implemented in response to the state’s $19 billion budget deficit and a warning from the State Controller showing that without a budget, the state could run out of cash by October.

However, CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed reiterated that CSU employees will not be subject to furloughs.

“While the CSU is not required to reinstitute furloughs, we will continue efforts to cooperate with the state’s effort to minimize the impact on the state general fund,” said Reed. “Our employee furloughs ended June 30, 2011 and were part of an overall plan to address the massive budget cuts of the past two years. We have not proposed to renegotiate furloughs with our employee labor unions, but as requested by the Executive Order, will work to pay CSU employee compensation with alternative sources other than the state general fund.”

In addition, CSU has continued efforts to reduce costs through decreased enrollment, deferred maintenance, delayed equipment purchases, reduction in staffing, reduction in travel expenditures and other similar measures.

Source: www.FresnoStateNews.com, www.CalState.edu