Universities Continue Layoffs Due to Coronavirus Pandemic
“more bad news about the continuing impact of the coronavirus pandemic on higher education’s workforce”
The pandemic is going to be a wrecking ball for higher education, and we’re only in the early stages of the effects.
Forbes reports:
Universities Continue Their Pandemic-Related Layoffs. Ithaca College, Duke, And The University Of Memphis Among The Latest
This week brought more bad news about the continuing impact of the coronavirus pandemic on higher education’s workforce. Exhibit A was Ithaca College, which on October 6 announced it would be forced to terminate approximately 130 faculty members because of decreased enrollment.
The college must cut $30 million from its budget, largely because of plunging enrollment in the 2020–21 academic year. Laurie Koehler, vice president for marketing and enrollment strategy at Ithaca reported that 4,957 undergraduate students are enrolled for Fall 2020. That’s a significant slide from 5,852 undergraduate students in Fall 2019 and 6,101 in Fall 2018.
The projected faculty cuts come on the heels of the termination of at least 167 staff positions, the majority in facilities and dining services, that were announced in April. Those layoffs were due to both the pandemic and the college’s strategic plan.
Although Ithaca has not finalized its faculty reduction plans, its officials acknowledged that entire departments may be discontinued and that some tenured faculty may lose their jobs. It plans to recommend which faculty members will be terminated by Dec. 31, and those identified will be notified in March, 2021 of their non-renewal for the 2021-22 academic year.
Ithaca was not alone. On Wednesday, University of Memphis President M. David Rudd announced the university would be required to lay off staff to help cover a budget loss of $50 million due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The reductions, the exact number of which the university did not disclose, were to occur in facilities management and support services along with several auxiliary groups, such as housing, dining services, and parking and transportation services.
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And every single person laid off as a result of the scamdemic/dem-panic shutdown will still vote blue this November.
“Thank you sir, may I have another?”
So they’re cutting the people who actually work and protecting the bureaucracy and indoctrination staffs.
Well, I guess I didn’t expect common sense or constructive change.
What, you expected them to sacrifice their powerbase within the organization?
The likely reason is: those positions were devised to fulfull hiring quotas. There likely are too few QUALIFIED members of the protected classes to fill the positions of actual use.
I’ve worked at a ‘pubic’ university. They will keep every last overpaid and incompetent and worthless ‘Assistant VP to the Assistant VP’ position. Of course, if they leftard faculty, well, I’m happy to see them suffer.
“One of these days they’re going to remove so much of the ‘hooey’ and the thousands of things the schools have become clogged up with, and we will find that we can educate our broods for about one-tenth of the price and learn ’em something that they might accidentally useafter they escape.”
— Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Snipped from the Forbes article is some bad news, actually. The layoffs at Duke will primarily result from elimination of “the Duke University Talent Identification Program, or Duke TIP, an effort that has served more than three million academically gifted students in grades four through 12 since beginning in 1980.” TIP was a fantastic program that provided an outlet and opportunity for gifted students trapped in crappy public schools. I am sad to see it go.
After 30 years’ experience, Duke feels the program was not worth the expense. Not as tho they had no info.
Just a thought: I would hazard a guess that the Duke community votes in lockstep with those who oppose charter schools, tuition aid for private schools, and home schooling. and other routes out of “crappy public schools” to use your words.
Just a thought: You might want to learn a little something about the program before commenting.