Purdue Dropping Planned Raises -- For Now -- Amid Virus Crisis

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — The president of Purdue University said it would be “irresponsible” to offer raises while the campus deals with impacts from the coronavirus outbreak.

A 3 percent merit pay pool was planned for July. But Mitch Daniels told trustees Thursday that he's dropping it while also limiting repairs and purchases and putting a freeze on new hires, the Journal & Courier reported.

“The 3 percent pay increases we were working on and planning for — we’re just going to have to postpone until we know what the future holds,” Daniels said. “Our hope is sometime during next fiscal year we can put those in place. But it would be really irresponsible to do that in July.”

Purdue's new fiscal year starts July 1. Daniels said he didn't anticipate job cuts during the balance of the current budget year.

Daniels also has created a 12-member task force to look at how the campus can reduce health risks next fall.