[ abstract ]Harvard University is the richest university in the United States. As of June 2019, it has received a total of 40.9 billion dollars in donations.
Harvard University requires its employees to consider a series of voluntary measures such as early retirement, giving up leave, and shortening working hours to make up the income gap of 1.2 billion dollars in two academic years.
Katie Lapp, the executive vice president of Harvard University, said in a notice on June 9 that Harvard University also extended the payment of their salaries and benefits to those directly employed employees and contract workers (including catering, property management and security) who were suspended due to the COVID-19 epidemic to after June 28, but Harvard University did not intend to lay off temporarily or permanently.
Concerned about the second round of coronavirus pandemic, universities including Harvard are trying to solve the problem of how to resume courses in the fall semester, whether online or face-to-face. If more and more students decide not to enroll, American schools will face the economic dilemma of reduced tuition fees. If students cannot return to campus, schools will lose their income from board and lodging. At Harvard, a limited number of employees have already undertaken the necessary work on campus, while the university is restarting its laboratory facilities.
"Harvard is not taking any leave or layoffs at this time," Lapp said. "We will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of the voluntary plans and other cost saving measures we are developing to determine whether we can continue to manage budget shortfalls, or whether we need to consider other steps in the future, including employee actions."
Harvard University is the richest university in the United States. As of June 2019, it has received a total of 40.9 billion dollars in donations.
"We have not yet decided whether or how many students to return to campus," Harvard President Lawrence Bacao said last week. "We are trying to postpone this as much as possible."
