For 28 years, Douglas Houston has purchased basketball season tickets with a faculty discount.

But when the University recently announced that it was temporarily getting rid of faculty and staff discounted tickets, Houston, professor of business, said he was deciding whether to pay the full price for tickets next year. It’s a huge increase, he said, and the discounts were an important part of employee compensation.

“Many long-term employees are not taking huge salaries, and this is a part of who we are,” Houston said. “I’m not happy. I’m mad as hell.”

The University’s tightening budget is the reason behind the suspension of the discounted tickets for the 2009-2010 school year, according to an e-mail Provost Richard Lariviere sent to faculty and staff on Wednesday.

The e-mail stated that the 2008-2009 discounted tickets cost the University $451,000 — the equivalent of 11 faculty positions.

“We cannot in good conscience lay off additional employees in order to maintain this discount,” Lariviere said in the e-mail.

The suspension includes the 20 percent discounted athletics tickets and the 15 percent discounted Lied Center tickets available for both current and retired faculty and staff. Free Lied Center tickets for retirees have also been suspended.

“In order to protect the academic and research mission, we decided that we would temporarily suspend those discounts,” said Jack Martin, deputy director of University Communications.

The only exception to the suspension is football season tickets for next fall, because many faculty members have already purchased the tickets.

Martin said employees had received the 20 percent athletic discount since 1999. While basketball season tickets cost $1,195 regularly, faculty and staff have been able to buy season tickets for $956.

Out of the $451,000 the University paid for tickets, Martin said $382,000 went to athletics tickets and $69,000 went to Lied Center tickets.

Martin said the University had covered the costs of the discounts for several years because of an agreement between the University and Kansas Athletics. The Athletics Department pays for utility costs and facilities and the University covers the costs for discounted faculty and staff tickets.

Martin said it was unlikely that the Athletics Department would try and cover the employee discounts for the 2009-2010 school year because the economy also affected the department.

Faculty and staff have had mixed feelings since the announcement.

“I think that the faculty discount was a really nice thing, but in light of the Univeristy’s budget situation, I completely understand why the University wanted to stop it,” said Susan Twombly, professor of education and chair of the SenEx basketball committee.

But Joe Reitz, professor emeritus of business, said the discount removal was an insult to the faculty and staff, who were the backbone of the University.

“There are a lot of ways to save money and the University is taking away one of the very few perks that faculty and staff enjoy,” Reitz said. “It basically shows that at least some administrators have no respect for the people who do real work for the University.”

Jerry Niebaum, president of the Endacott Society, the University’s organization for retired faculty and staff, said members had expressed concern over the withdrawal.

Niebaum and several members have met with leaders of Kansas University Endowment Association and the Lied Center during the past week to discuss the discount suspension.

“The retiree benefits are an expression of thanks from the University for a service given,” Niebaum said. “To have the benefits reduced shows the University no longer values your contributions.”

In a tightening economy where retired faculty must live on fixed incomes, Niebaum said it would be especially difficult for retired faculty to be able to pay full price for tickets.

Associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said faculty and staff would still be able to sit in the same seats for basketball games. He also said faculty and staff would be able to buy half-season ticket packages, a benefit not offered to the general public.

Many ticket prices for the 2009-2010 season at the Lied Center have been reduced, said Tim Van Leer the center’s executive director, and the 15 percent discount that faculty and staff received in the past could be offset by lower prices.

Martin said student tickets were discounted through a Student Senate arrangement that was different than the way that faculty and staff discounts were arranged.

“I know no reason that students should be concerned,” Martin said.

Martin said that once the budget improved, the University hoped to return the discount for faculty and staff.

— — Edited by Susan Melgren