photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World File Photo

Strong Hall on the University of Kansas campus is shown on Sept. 13, 2018.

Departments at the University of Kansas must terminate the employment of student workers who are no longer actively working beginning May 17.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out, KU committed to paying all employees through the crisis and determined it would pay student employees for an average of their reported biweekly hours even if they could not come to campus. As the academic year comes to an end, however, the university can’t continue paying student employees, according to a message from Mike Rounds, KU’s vice provost for operations.

The decision is one of the first tangible examples of how Kansas’ flagship university will handle the financial burden that comes from the unprecedented pandemic that has upset local, state and national economies. Rounds, though, acknowledged that there are still “unknown financial implications” facing the university.

Department heads have been asked to evaluate all student employee activity and request exemptions for any students continuing to work over the summer. Those evaluations are due to KU human resources management by Thursday, and any positions not requested for an exemption will be terminated, according to Rounds’ message.

Rehiring any student workers after the summer will be subject to guidelines of the hiring freeze KU implemented on April 2.

It is unclear exactly how many students will be terminated. The announcement clearly states, however, that Graduate Teaching Assistants, Graduate Research Assistants and Graduate Assistants aren’t affected by the process.

Students whose jobs will end between May 3 and May 16 can expect a final check dated May 29, according to the message.

KU has not given an indication as to whether it will have to lay off or furlough other university employees while the pandemic continues, as many universities around the country have done to mitigate coming losses. KU spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson told the Journal-World in an email it was too early to make those decisions.

“There are still too many unknowns for us to have a full picture of the pandemic’s impact on the university. For instance, there are unknowns regarding emergency funding at the state and federal levels, as well as the impact to our summer programs and enrollment,” she said. “Our various planning teams continue to evaluate these factors while planning for various scenarios that might play out in the weeks and months ahead.”

Barcomb-Peterson didn’t address a question of whether top-level administrators would take a pay cut during the pandemic. Chancellor Douglas Girod has previously estimated KU will lose “tens of millions” of dollars through the duration of the COVID-19 crisis.