UNI offering early retirements; sent layoff notices to at least four staff - Jayson Clayworth, Des Moines Register

The Iowa Board of Regents this morning announced a March 5 meeting to discuss an early retirement incentive program at UNI. That meeting will be by telephone at 10 a.m. Live audio of the meeting can be seen online at www.regents.iowa.gov. Details of the early retirement are to be released later this afternoon, an employee at the Regents said today. However, spokeswoman Sheila Doyle Koppin, a spokeswoman for the Regents, later indicated that the information would be available before the meeting and did not say the information would be available to the public today. Betty DeBerg, a religion professor at UNI and a senate faculty member, noted that union contracts require that cuts through attrition are required before layoffs. If the early retirement incentives are not attractive, it’s unlikely that many staff will take the offer, she said.