TO:  University of Idaho Faculty and Staff
FROM:  Scott Green, President
DATE:  April 24, 2020
SUBJECT:  Decision is to Keep Facilities Management In-House

Our Vandal Community is what makes the University of Idaho so strong. The dedication of faculty and staff is second to none, and this shows every day in the work you do for the university and, most importantly, for our students.

We have done incredible work together this past year, making hard decisions that will make the university stronger. We continue to face hard decisions as we emerge from this pandemic. Keeping our community whole is important. Months of work and deliberations delayed by COVID-19 are now completed.

I recently received feedback on our investigation into outsourcing of Facilities management from a survey of Staff Council, Faculty Senate and the University Distinguished Professors. Like most of the comments received over the course of the past few months, the feedback was split. The vast majority of staff leadership support outsourcing; the vast majority of faculty do not. Comments from staff indicated that they are very aware and concerned about the financial headwinds we face and fear that if we don’t proceed with outsourcing, these foregone savings will fall on the remaining staff and could likely result in more layoffs. I fully understand this argument. The state is asking us to plan for more holdbacks and, while our applications and admittances are up, students nationwide have not been committing to go on to higher ed. Some surveys indicate many will sit out a year, and other studies say enrollments nationwide will be down. Our experience is the same — our yields on admittances are down from this time last year and I remain concerned about fall enrollment and its impact.

Most faculty surveyed expressed both philosophical and practical concerns about outsourcing Facilities management. It is clear most felt savings should not come from outsourcing, even though they understood and accepted it would need to come from somewhere else.

At the end of the day, this last argument is the one I found most compelling. For this, and many other reasons, after consulting with the Vice President for Finance and Administration, we determined not to move forward with any plan to outsource the management, current or future staff of U of I Facilities. I am confident we can structure our plans to deal with the latest state holdbacks in a way that minimizes the impact on staff. Most of our highest paid employees are faculty and administration, so I believe an income-based approach to this shortfall will help deflect this burden from the vast majority of staff. The details of the approach are being worked out.

I appreciate the work Brian Foisy, Vice President for Finance and Administration, and his team put into investigating this option. It was hard, emotional work. Brian was always transparent and professional, did not allow himself to be dragged down into unproductive engagements, and when the time came to make a final decision, took the high road and agreed with the outcome. I also appreciate the work of the review committee and the feedback from the surveyed groups. In the end, this feedback was pivotal to the final decision and charting a path forward.

The work of the Facilities team is invaluable to our university. Our Moscow campus is a special place, physically and emotionally, and a key to recruitment success. This team is vital to that experience. I thank each one of you. I know this has been a stressful time full of uncertainty, but please know I appreciate you and want what is best for you and the university you help maintain.

As we look ahead to fall and all of us being together again in whatever that setting is across our great state, we will do it with the best interest of the university in mind — and that includes our people. For now, we continue to work remotely where possible and provide the services our students need to finish out the unprecedented Spring 2020 semester. I look forward to the day I see our entire Vandal Family together again, face to face, on our beautiful campus.

Scott Green
President

president@uidaho.edu
uidaho.edu/president