Regents give university CEOs more power to fire employees

(AP) The Kansas Board of Regents have approved a temporary policy that gives university CEOs more power to suspend or fire employees, including tenured faculty. The regents unanimously endorsed the change Wednesday, citing financial pressures caused by the coronavirus pandemic, cuts in state funding and declining enrollments. The regents gave universities 45 days to submit a framework to determine how they will make employee-related decisions. A representative of the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents told the regents that the policy basically suspends tenure and will damage employee morale. The policy will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2022.