Cabrini University Cutting Staff and Programs Due to Pandemic
“eliminating 46 positions, the bulk through voluntary separation agreements, but also including about 10 layoffs”
There is more of this to come. The last year has been devastating for schools across the country.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:
Cabrini cuts staff, programs, as coronavirus pandemic and competition take toll
With colleges already competing for fewer high school graduates before the coronavirus pandemic took a toll, Cabrini University is to announce Monday it is cutting programs and staff to stem a deficit and give the college a “sustainable path forward.”
The small Catholic college in Radnor, which employs about 250 full time, is eliminating 46 positions, the bulk through voluntary separation agreements, but also including about 10 layoffs and some jobs that will go unfilled. Perhaps the most significant change is that Cabrini, a liberal arts college that became a university in 2016, will eliminate majors in religious studies, Black studies and philosophy, though they will continue as minors and subject matter will be incorporated into the core curriculum. Overall, 15 of Cabrini’s 69 programs have been tagged for elimination or change, said President Donald B. Taylor.
“You can no longer be all things to all people,” Taylor said, given the pressures of the market.
The decisions, Taylor said, follow a comprehensive review of programs, with cuts targeted to those that had low enrollment and are without much potential for future growth. Some of the programs were averaging fewer than five new majors a year, he said. He shared the changes with faculty and staff late Friday afternoon.
“There’s quite a bit of shock,” said Todd Matthews, department chair for leadership, organizational development and change, and acting faculty assembly chair, “especially when you are looking at eliminating areas that are kind of central to the liberal arts mission. Sadly, we’re seeing this all over the country, though it doesn’t make it any easier.”
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