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Marquette just laid off 39 staff members, and seems to make still more cuts.The administration claims that it can’t use the $9.7 million it received under the recently passed Coronavirus Response and Relief bill to save jobs. But something is amiss here. Let’s review.
The administration might say that portion of the $9.7 million must be used to support students. That’s true. But it’s only $3.3 million out of $9.7 million. See the breakdown here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/314a1allocationtableheerfii.pdf.
What about the other $6.4 million? That’s the “institutional portion" of the aid. What can it be used for? Let’s look at the text of the certification agreement universities have to sign here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/bluecaheerfiiinstitution.pdf.
This document states that MU may use that $6.4 million to “defray expenses associated with coronavirus (including lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses incurred, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education, faculty and staff trainings, and payroll).”
Limits on funds: no funds for contractors for recruitment/marketing, capital outlays for athletics, sectarian instruction/religious worship, senior admin salaries, stock buybacks, bonuses, contracts, incentives.
That MU says it cannot use these funds to save jobs is curious. President Lovell’s email sent yesterday began by noting that: “the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need to take strategic action.”
No one expects the HEERF monies to be a permanent fix to challenges that MU faces beyond the pandemic. But this isn't the point. If the pandemic has had an effect (and MU has spent the last year saying as much), why not use support available to deal with that?
The CRRSA *deliberately provided more flexibility* in use of funds. CARES Act required institutional funds to have a "clear nexus" to changes in instruction/delivery, CRRSA broadened to "defray expenses associated with coronavirus". See fact sheet here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/factsheetheerfii.pdf
So here's the question everyone should be asking: how is Marquette going to use the $6.4 million in its institutional portion of HEERF II funds?
