I heard on the local news last night that Clemson University is going

[raccoon]

to "give" its employees a mandatory 5-day furlough to save money. In SC colleges and universities have had their budgets slashed 14.5%. This is permanent, not just for this year.

Seems to me the furlough avoids making difficult choices. Thing is, if you have to make big budget cuts, you aren't doing anything if you let go the peons who are making peanuts and have no benes. I'm not singling out Clemson; I expect other colleges will be doing the same thing, as well as other state agencies who've had budget cuts.