Across campus, department heads, directors and deans are still working through the gritty details of furlough implementation – and they have less than a month to pull it all together.

The Board of Regents mandated six furlough days at a meeting last month, but the University has given its leaders until Oct. 1 to come up with a plan for the first furlough day, which employees will take on Oct. 30 – fall break.

A furlough is mandatory time off – taken without pay – used as a cost saving measure.

Though the University has released general furlough guidelines on its Web site, each campus unit must come up with its own logistical plan specific to its nuances and needs.

Garnett Stokes, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, said she hoped her college would have its plans together before the University’s recommended deadline.

“Right now what we are doing is having our school directors and department heads work on creating their own plans in their specific units,” Stokes said.

And some divisions face complex challenges.

“It’s more complicated for units like the marine institute [the University's ecological research facility on Sapelo Island],” Stokes said. “Their mission is different than that of a regular department.”

But every University entity has its own tough decisions to make.

“We plan to observe the days mandated,” said Sheila Allen, the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. “We do have, however, some individual units that can’t simply shut down.”

The diagnostic labs and veterinary hospital in the College need to stay open even on furlough days, Allen said. Animals will still need care and data will still need to be collected.

The genetics department faces similar challenges. Some employees must come to work on furlough days to maintain the various long-term research projects needing daily attention.

“Our goal is to have the building entirely empty except for essential personnel,” said Jeffrey Bennetzen, the department head for genetics. “There are certain types of facilities that need to be looked after every day.”

The “essential personnel” selected to work on furlough days would take their mandatory leave on a different day within the same pay period, Bennetzen said.

Bennetzen was also unsure about what employees possessing H-1B visas – who do not have to take furlough days – would do when everyone else was on leave.

About half a dozen genetics faculty and staff fall into that category, he said.

For Dale Monson, director of the School of Music, furlough days pose a problem for the staff associated with the Red Coat Marching Band.

“Oct. 30 [the first furlough day] is the day before a big football game – an away game,” he said. “Our marching band will be down there.”

The last furlough day – April 30 – was also a concern for Monson. It’s Reading Day, and Monson said music students would need to be able to access buildings and practice rooms to prepare for finals.

But students needing the main library on Reading Day should not be concerned.

The main library will be open on Reading Day, said Jean Cleveland, communications director for the library. But decisions about which employees will maintain the library’s functions have not yet been finalized.

“There are a lot of nuts and bolts details like that,” Cleveland said. “We are still trying to work through them.”

The other furlough days are Nov. 25, Dec. 24, Jan. 4, and March 8 – days students will not be on campus.