As a new retirement plan at Keene State College is beginning, the editors of The Equinox view the approach with a skeptical lens.
On Friday, Feb. 9, President Melinda Treadwell publicly announced the Career Transition Incentive Plan, stating it would save the school over $650,000. The plan is for Keene State College Education Association tenure track and clinical faculty age 55 or older and who have been with the college for at least 10 years.
While we think the plan may sound good at first glance we also wonder if the plan will go into effect the way hoped for. On the positive side of everything, this is a voluntary process and it was requested by the faculty. This is not like the layoffs that took place at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. However, when taking a critical look at all the factors necessary for the plan we are unsure if it will work out in accordance with the desired outcome.
According to Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, James Beeby, 10 members of the union are hoped to take up the offer. About seven of these positions are planned to be replaced with eight searches for full-time faculty across various departments already approved.
We are left nervous if these new hires will even be brought in. This is too big of a chance to be relying on speculation. It appears there is a lot of wishful thinking that everything will turn out as predicted at play.
These variables will have to be perfect for this to work out as planned. If it goes through a lot of effort must be put in place to ensure it goes exactly as hoped for. Furthermore, we are unsure if this will really be an effective plan in the long run.
While this does seem like an effective cost-saving method in the short term we are not certain it would remain that way. Taking into account when the new hires receive seniority it might end up costing the college more. It all seems a bit mischievous, especially with everything happening at Durham.
We are aware the layoffs that happened at Durham are unrelated to the retirement plan, but it still feels like a strange time to bring something like this up. We think this plan came at a very poor time with the comparisons to the layoffs.
It is not the best time and there is too big of a risk. If this retirement plan is to go into fruition there should be extensive attention going into it to fulfill what is required to make it work. While we are skeptical if this is the right approach we would love to be proven wrong if it is beneficial to Keene State College.
What is best for the whole college is ultimately what everyone wants. We are concerned with the gamble this is, but if it can run exactly as planned it could be a good way to save some money. Proceeding with caution should be an absolute must.
