Hundreds of faculty eligible for UM System buyout

More than 200 faculty members on the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus are eligible for a buyout of senior, tenured faculty being offered next summer.

University spokesman Christian Basi said 224 faculty members here are eligible for the buyout and 466 qualify across the UM System’s four campuses. Eligible employees can take a one-time lump sum payment equal to 1.5 times their annual salary, not exceeding $200,000.

To qualify faculty must be full-time employees, tenured for five years and be at least 62 years old.

MU documentary journalism major Danny Stayton fears significant effects if many faculty in his department take the buyout.

“We definitely create a friendship and a bond with them so if they were to leave it would be an adjustment,” Stayton said.

Other MU students have mixed feelings about the buyout.

“Professors who have been here a long time know what they are doing,” Gracen Santoyo said. “But being a future educator myself, I feel that it might be a good thing to get new teachers in here to get a new feel on it.”

Basi said it’s unclear how many faculty will choose to take the buyout.

Qualifying faculty can submit their interest in March and must make a final decision in May, according to a web page about the buyouts. The buyouts will take effect between July 1 and Sept. 1.

Faculty who take the buyout are eligible to be rehired on a part-time basis.

Basi said late last month that the money saved from salaries for faculty who take the buyout could be used for student scholarships or new hires to meet departments’ goals.