Layoffs coming for UST faculty
St. Thomas board OKs reorganization to save $5M a year
The University of St. Thomas is reorganizing academic departments and will not renew contracts for several faculty members next year, a move that aims to save at least $5 million a year and better position the Montrose campus for future growth.
The restructuring plan approved by the university’s board of directors Thursday is intended to help the college achieve financial stability and combat its long-standing deficit, now about $2.5 million, university officials said.
The plan will help save $5 million to $6 million in a year starting next fall, but as a result, at least 30 faculty members will not be offered contract renewals for the 2020-21 academic year, and departments and programs will be reorganized into new “divisions,” St. Thomas President Richard Ludwick said.
The changes are essential in making the university stronger, fiscally sound and able to grow, said Ludwick, who added that the university’s costs have exceeded its revenue for nearly a decade.
“It’s a difficult thing to do and certainly none of us wants to do it. For our faculty, it is upsetting,” Ludwick said. “Even though there’s sense of loss in some way, there is opportunity as we move forward.”
Many students are displeased with the restructuring and have launched a student petition, as well as a GoFundMe campaign, and now question both the university’s financial standing and its values.
UST Concerned Celts, a studentorganized group, launched a petition in November naming six professors whose jobs they believed are threatened by the restructuring, saying such a move goes against the university’s values.
By Friday, more than 700 people had signed opposing the professors’ terminations. The list includes professors in the art history, biology, chemistry and philosophy departments. At least two of the 30 affected faculty members are said to be tenured.
Ludwick said he could not confirm whether the list was accurate and said the layoffs are personal to each faculty member and, thus, their decision to announce. Ludwick added that all faculty members are subject to and have been aware of the same policy, in which termination could be a “remote possibility.”
In this instance, Ludwick said, the university applied an “objective rubric” in its review of each of academic program. The majority of faculty impacted were adjuncts or nonpermanent staff, “but in a few instances, permanent faculty were affected,” he said.
A GoFundMe campaign to raise $15,000 in support of the humanities department faculty was posted Nov. 21 by graduate student Jennifer Guevara.
One of the supporters, identified as Kimberly Dinh, wrote: “I want to express my sincere request for the university to reconsider their decision as I do believe it could possibly have a negative impact on the academic, spiritual, and cultural community at UST. Of the professors that were listed to be cut, they are some of the most passionate, knowledgeable, dedicated, and supportive people I have met during my years at St. Thomas.”
Guevara said a majority of the GoFundMe money raised will assist Charles Stewart, a tenured art history professor, in his legal case against the university, and the remaining funds will assist the humanities department. As of Friday, 10 donors had contributed $1,200.
Stewart declined to comment to the Houston Chronicle.
The effort is similar to a GoFundMe campaign launched in 2017 when the private Catholic university considered eliminating all philosophy programs after growing financial deficits similarly brought on a review of the school’s offerings and existing costs. Supporters raised more than $11,500 for a faculty legal defense fund amid fears that the review would spur largescale cuts.
University officials say this restructuring is different and programs have been spared. But students on campus said the changes have created a tension between administration and faculty, and that many students are somber and still have questions despite the university hosting three open forums.
Some are confused about how a school with increasing enrollment can afford to cut faculty. Total enrollment has increased during Ludwick’s presidency by 9.3 percent, from 3,218 to 3,517, but graduate enrollment is down by 2.8 percent. Others wonder how the college can continue to use money to fund programs outside of academics.
St. Thomas has taken on several initiatives since Ludwick’s inauguration in 2017, including the president’s collaborative community campaign, an ambitious five-year plan called “A Call Toward Tomorrow,” which university officials credit for the restructuring.
This year alone, St. Thomas announced flat-rate tuition, half-priced summer courses, multiple new degrees and programs, an expansion to Conroe with the beginnings of a new campus slated for 2020, a commissioned mural by Houstonbased graffiti artist Gonzo247, the athletic department’s move to join the NCAA Division III and an augmented-reality nativity scene, launched earlier this month.
Ramon Fernandez, an accounting professor in the business school and a faculty member for more than 30 years, said it’s common for private universities to face a deficit — especially when undergraduates are often receiving tuition at a discounted rate thanks to scholarships and endowments. But some of the new initiatives — namely the new athletic program — could contribute to the deficit. Pair that with the national trend of declining graduate enrollment, typically the “cash cow” at most schools, and things could worsen, he said.
Some higher education experts attribute the decrease in graduate program admissions across the country to soured U.S. relations with international students created by the Trump administration’s increasingly stringent rules on visas.
But Fernandez emphasized that the university is trying to fix things, and its first resort has been academics, which makes up a big bulk of the budget. Salaries account for at least 60 percent of the budget, Ludwick said. Nineteen faculty members will be eliminated — five who are tenure-track, seven who are nontenuretrack, four who are part time and three who are tenured, according to a recent report to the university community.
Some have expressed their shock that layoffs are affecting tenured faculty, who are typically considered immune to layoffs unless a university is experiencing financial hardship or has claimed “financial exigency,” according to policies issued by the American Association of University Professors. But Ludwick has stated that the university is nowhere near bankruptcy.
Outplacement assistance has and will be offered to those affected, he said. At least 11 senior faculty members have also considered retiring or transitioning into retirement phase to spare other junior faculty members, Ludwick said.
“Many of them have come forward voluntarily to retire, so the actual impact on other faculty was much less than what might have been the case.”
The structure of departments and programs at St. Thomas will also experience changes thanks to recommendations faculty members gave to the administration in order to help cut costs, university officials said.
At least two nonacademic departments have already been created through mergers. The admissions and student affairs office will merge into the Enrollment Management and Student Engagement Department, and marketing and communications will merge with alumni relations and career services to create the Marketing and University Relations Department.
St. Thomas’ School of Arts and Sciences will transform into three divisions — one for liberal studies; one for mathematics, technology and life science; and a third for social and behavior sciences and global studies. The School of Education and Human Services will also be streamlined into three departments with three deans. The School of Theology will also be transitioned into a separate division under the School of Arts and Sciences.
Degree paths will not be impaired and officials “do not expect there to be a reduction in student contact, educational quality or student opportunities and experience,” board chair Curtis Huff and Ludwick wrote in the report
But Guevara said she and other students have doubts. Despite open forums with the administration and surveys the university said they have sent to students to get feedback, many have felt left out of the decision-making and question the university’s transparency and spending habits amid the cuts, Guevara said.
“Everyone comes here for an education, not for athletics,” a student said. “When alumni talk about St. Thomas “it’s not about athletics, the food. It’s not the buildings. … It’s the people.”