By Anna Simon
CLEMSON BUREAU

CLEMSON -- Clemson University remains committed to pursuing its new five-year plan and staying on the road to become a Top 20 national public university despite financial setbacks, President Jim Barker said Friday.

"Going into an uncertain future, you need a plan. We have one," Barker said in a town meeting with employees when he discussed the budget, presented Clemson's newly adopted five-year plan and answered questions.

Ranked 22nd among national public universities and poised to break into the coveted Top 20, Clemson has a clear sense of direction, an unwavering commitment to quality and will budget to its plan for the future, he said.

Clemson must maintain its momentum despite an economic climate pitted with not only state funding cuts, but conditions that could impact every revenue stream: private giving, federal funding, endowment earnings and enrollment.

He also addressed the impact of a recently announced five-day furlough for all employees that is estimated to save about $5 million of a $26 million state budget cut.

Barker predicted the cut could grow to $29 million based on new state economic forecasts.

A relief fund has been established to assist those employees at the bottom of the pay scale who will be most hurt by the loss of pay, and Barker said that in the 48 hours since inception there already have been 42 gifts and 43 applications.

Halting construction on the campus should save $8 million, and another $3.5 million will come from self-supporting auxiliaries including housing and athletics, Barker said.

Private giving fundraising will focus on scholarships, fellowships and professorships to help replace lost state educational dollars, and Clemson also will ask the state for regulatory relief to enable the university to be more entrepreneurial and flexible in this environment, Barker said.

While Barker stresses the strength of One Clemson, some employees wondered if they'd remain part of the family. Dennis Anderson, an arborist in the landscape maintenance department, asked if his area would be outsourced, and Barker replied that everything is on the table.

The possibility of outsourcing "is a huge concern. We're without a job and we're giving it to other people," Anderson said.

April Bowen, an administrative assistant in the School of Computing, and her husband, a Clemson landscape maintenance worker, have had serious family budgeting talks because furloughs hit both of their paychecks. She left the meeting concerned not only about smaller paychecks but the security of her husband's job.