'Furlough' Sounds Better Than 'Pay Cut'

Professors at state schools are being told to take furloughs, reports The Scientist. The University of California put a furlough plan into place last week, following similar measures at Arizona State University, Clemson University, the University of Maryland, and the University of North Carolina. "The teaching load is not being reduced, [nor] the expectations for producing," the American Association of University Professors' John Curtis says. "It's something we really hadn't heard of except in isolated cases, and then all of a sudden this spring, probably about 12 public colleges or universities announced furloughs of one kind or another."