Provost informs LU faculty of impending layoffs

UPDATE: Lincoln University released a statement on the FY2018 budget planning process Tuesday afternoon saying nothing is finalized, but that a completed plan will be presented to the board of curators during their meeting on June 8.

ORIGINAL STORY: In a letter sent to the faculty of Lincoln University, acting provost and vice president of academic affairs Dr. Debra Greene said layoffs were imminent.

“The Cabinet is hard at work trying to balance the AY 2018 budget,” said Greene in the letter. “As you know, this exercise is not unique to Lincoln University but is being done at Missouri institutions of higher education throughout the state.”

ABC 17 News reported in November 2016 that state funding withheld by former Gov. Jay Nixon could soon lead university leadership to cut some staff, and the next month, five positions were cut in departments the administration said were not adequately performing.

In a recent version of the FY2018 state budget, even deeper cuts to higher education are being considered.

“The Cabinet spent the entire day looking for other options, and we are still $1.8 million short,” said Greene in the letter. “This amount has to come from salary; there are no other places to cut. A reduction of this size amounts to 23 faculty positions paid out of the General Fund.”

Greene added that it is not the university’s intention to follow the “last hired” model when deciding who to fire, but instead asked the department heads to “look closely at each program area.”

New rules approved in January 2017 allow the president of the university to declare financial exigency on any particular department or program, an action the opens the possibility of revoking tenure in programs that are deemed financially insolvent.

Dr. Bryan Salmons, chair of the university’s faculty senate, told ABC 17 news an emergency meeting was called in which the deans and department heads were asked to nominate faculty members for removal.

As of Tuesday morning, Salmons said, no nominations had been submitted.

“I have never seen faculty morale lower than it is right now,” Salmons said. “People are demoralized, anxious.”

Salmons said department heads gave some suggestions of other ways to make up for the drop in funding, such as reducing the amount of administrative staff.

“We’re down 650 students since 2011, which is about a, oh, 18 percent drop in enrollment,” Salmons said. “And yet, during that time, we’re up 20-some odd percent in administrators.”

The potential layoffs also come as the university is searching for a new president.

“What if we do a search and bring in somebody else, and they feel like all this was a mistake,” Salmons said. “Then why did we do it?”

The full text of Greene’s letter can be seen below:

Colleagues,

The Cabinet is hard at work trying to balance the AY 2018 budget. As you know, this exercise is not unique to Lincoln University but is being done at Missouri institutions of higher education throughout the state.

As Lincoln deals with the budget, it is very clear that Academic Affairs personnel, in instruction, will be impacted. The Deans and Department Heads/Chairs have looked at their operational budgets and salary savings resulting from new hires at salaries lower than the senior faculty they are replacing. All of these are critical areas of need and cannot be left vacant.

This has not resulted in enough reductions to cover our shortfall. The Cabinet spent the entire day looking for other options (several of the budget subcommittee’s suggestions have been included) and we are still $1.8 million short. This amount has to come from salary; there are no other places to cut. A reduction of this size amounts to 23 faculty positions paid out of the General Fund.

The reductions cannot follow the “last hired” model. We must be purposeful in determining how to maintain and grow programs while reducing faculty. I have asked the Deans to look closely at each of their program areas.

Thank you,

Dr. Debra Foster Greene
Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Office of Academic Affairs