As we have reported earlier in the year, dozens of Ball State faculty opted to take the university’s Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Plan, or VERIP. Those who satisfied the plan’s qualifications will receive an incentive payment of 125 percent of their annual teaching salary, atop their accrued retirement benefits. For a faculty member making $80,000, the one-time payment would be $100,000 before taxes.

Some critics say this is a “reduction in force” move by the university, replacing more “expensive” veteran faculty members with younger, lower-pay-scale professors and part-time instructors. Some fear this will hurt Ball State’s faculty institutional academic experience level and institutional memory.

Returning this week to cover this and other items is Ball State president Geoff Mearns. You can hear the entire interview on the audio app, below.