William Paterson University in New Jersey Cutting Faculty Due to Lower Enrollment and Pandemic
“One hundred in three years will decimate our university”
Like many schools, William Paterson University in New Jersey is struggling due to lower enrollment and the pandemic. They have a huge deficit problem here.
Inside Higher Ed reports:
‘COVID Was the Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back’
Thirteen tenure-track or tenured professors are finishing up their last semester at William Paterson University in New Jersey, having been laid off this year due to budget problems exacerbated by COVID-19.
Now professors who thought their jobs were safe—and who agreed to a number of concessions in order to save as many colleagues’ jobs as possible in the first round of cuts—are facing another, bigger round of layoffs: citing ongoing declining enrollment and a $30 million structural deficit, William Paterson proposed cutting 150 more professors over three years, or about 40 percent of the full-time faculty.
That number has since been reduced to 100 over three years, with the faculty union agreeing to even more concessions. It’s also possible that a few more professors will opt for special retirement packages by a January deadline. But the prospect of losing anything close to 100 professors, out of about 340 total, has the faculty at William Paterson worried about not just their jobs but the future of the institution as a whole.
“One hundred in three years will decimate our university,” said Susanna Tardi, professor of sociology and criminal justice and president of the American Federation of Teachers–affiliated faculty union. “The instability is a detriment for the people who are at the university whose jobs are not currently in danger but could be, depending upon the future. It’s a detriment to trying to develop programs that you think might be viable, because you don’t have the appropriate faculty to be able to serve those programs.”
A tenured faculty member who did not want to be quoted by name, out of fear of being targeted for the second round of layoffs, said, “Morale is terrible, yet faculty are still putting in overtime helping our students who have been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic.”
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Comments
I wonder what the reduced enrollment is selecting as majors? Will it be STEM subjects or “Grievance Studies?” I hope the downsizing reflects the ongoing interests of the students.
By the way, how can an institution with only 340 (soon 240) faculty be called a “University?” From the website:
“William Paterson University is proud to be designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). The University received this distinction in fall 2014 when our total Hispanic student enrollment surpassed 25 percent. As of fall 2017, our Hispanic enrollment has increased to more than 31 percent.
“The third most diverse public university in the state of New Jersey, William Paterson has a long tradition of educating first generation college students, many of whom are children of immigrant parents, to become active and engaged citizens of our state and nation. Our HSI designation is a reflection of the diversity among our students, faculty, and staff. The designation also allows the University to expand educational opportunities for Hispanic students.”
Bottom line, I guess the taxpayers of New Jersey can no longer afford a separate University that caters to Hispanic students. Heaven forbid, these students will be forced to enroll in a large public university where they will make up a much smaller portion of the student body than 31%.
Freeloader school flops because freeloaders.
Hopefully MANY more will follow.
No more funding subversion.
Covid catches up with the hard left: the snake eats it tail.