More than 1,000 people have signed a petition asking WSU’s administrators with six figure salaries to take a pay cut in response to its spending reduction plan intended to curb the university’s $30 million deficit.

The petition, authored by three English professors in late November, was officially announced in a press release Wednesday night.

“We call for WSU’s administration to commit to the kind of fiscal accountability and transparency appropriate to a publicly-funded land grant institution,” the petition read.

The administration’s spending cut plan has become a flashpoint within the university since WSU President Kirk Schulz outlined a deficit reduction plan in October that would put WSU’s spending back on track in three fiscal years, if faithfully executed.

Schulz’s plan included eliminating the Performing Arts program, a directive that all units keep vacant positions open and across-the-board spending cuts of 2.5 percent.

Phil Weiler, WSU’s vice president for marketing and communication, has said the administration would not take the proposed pay cuts, but will be forgoing scheduled 1 percent pay raises to save costs.

This story has been updated from its original version