Sarah Buchholtz
Features Editor
SB: From your perspective as a faculty member, how were these layoffs communicated to you, and how effective do you feel that communication was?
AG: The first I heard of the layoffs was on Thursday. I started getting text messages, and I found out via informal channels that people were being terminated. Our formal communication came later that afternoon from the president. Faculty and staff received an email from the president letting us know about layoffs that affected 22 employees.
In terms of my opinion, I think there was room for improvement in terms of the general idea of the impending cuts. On Friday, January 30th, we had an all-campus meeting that David Jones led about the state of our budget and financial resources, and it was very clear at that meeting that we are facing some financial challenges. I did not have an opportunity to ask a question at that meeting, as I had another meeting scheduled with a student.
Then, at Monday’s faculty meeting on February 2nd, the president gave a report, and the provost gave a report. During the provost’s report, she said that in the context of being innovative and creative, some departments may need to close. When it was time for questions about the administrative reports, she also mentioned that the student body could go down to 1200 students, and that the College of Wooster has not always had a student body of 2000 students.
When it was time for questions, I directly asked, given what the provost had just said … that in [their] written report, she said that we have an 8.7:1 student-faculty ratio. … So if we want to get back to a student-faculty ratio of 11.5:1, which is what I have been told in my 19.5 years at the college that we are supposed to have, … in my own calculations, that means terminating, or eliminating, 30 to 40 faculty positions. My calculations that I’d done previously were done with the assumption of a 1600 on-campus population. Our current on-campus population is 1440 today. Now, if we go down to 1240, as David Jones said on Friday, that would mean more faculty lines needing to be eliminated.
So my question was, “How many faculty members are going to lose their jobs, and when are we going to know? When are we going to find out?” Then I said at the faculty meeting on Monday, “ David Jones gave his presentation on Friday. Are staff going to lose their jobs? And if so, when are they going to find out?”
President McCall’s response, via teams, as she was joining us remotely, was, “I can’t answer that question.” President McCall, in my opinion, had that opportunity. … It was almost prescient that I asked that question on Monday. I did not know that layoffs were coming on Thursday. But it would have been an opportunity [for President McCall] to say, “Staff cuts are imminent. These are difficult decisions, and we are trying to do them carefully and here are the principles by which we are making these decisions.” That would have given us [the staff] transparency, and it would have been clear communication. There were multiple times during the past several months when communication like that could have been delivered to the staff, to all of campus, and I believe President McCall missed those opportunities … And I think that’s why we saw such a negative reaction to her presentation on Thursday afternoon.
SB: Knowing that most of the staff, at least from my perspective, felt the same way about the unclear communication, how did you feel leaving the meeting on Thursday?
AG: I had an overwhelming sense of sadness that still was with me from the day’s events, for the individual employees affected, but also for our whole community. Anger at the way that it was handled, and a breakdown in trust. We simply have a lack of trust with certain members of the administration right now.
SB: How have these layoffs, if they have, affected your department’s ability to teach, advise, or support students?
AG: I don’t think I know the full extent yet. But, for example, one of the events we were planning in the psychology department was about opportunities for finding internships, and Paul Seling is my go-to person for that. He ran an event with my FYS students last semester; he was amazing.
Dennison has 20 staff members in their career services office; we have two right now. I spent part of my weekend looking on Handshake for job and internship opportunities for my students, which I already do, but now I feel more pressure to do more of that work because it feels like there are fewer resources and fewer people who can help them with that.
In my own building [Morgan Hall], we are currently without an administrative coordinator. I have students who need reimbursements for their IS research, and I’m not sure exactly how to help them. Our administrative coordinators on this campus are amazing and knowledgeable, and allow me to do my job as a teacher, advisor, researcher better, and [they] help support all faculty. Without an administrative coordinator in our building, it takes time away from my teaching, research and advising.
SB: So it sounds like you’ve already started to make changes toward supporting your own students. Do you think those changes are going to continue, and do you think some faculty will be taking on more work than others?
AG: I don’t know yet. It is too early to tell.
SB: How has the administration’s transparency been since Thursday?
AG: I don’t think we have heard very much, the little we have heard. I don’t believe we have a clear understanding of what the plan is moving forward, especially around APEX resources.
SB: I know APEX plays a huge role across faculty and teaching, and there are APEX people that I utilize all the time. It’s frustrating, and I can only understand it from a student’s perspective, but I can also sense how challenging it is from a faculty perspective, too.
AG: It is a huge marketing tool for the college; it is a huge selling point. I was on the provost search committee in the fall, and it was something that every single provost candidate, who came to campus, mentioned that they were impressed with. It was almost the first thing they mentioned as being one of our strengths at the College of Wooster.
SB: What do you worry might happen in the future if decisions and communication continues to be how it is right now?
AG: I worry that we already have a culture of fear on this campus among our employees. Our staff especially, but as a faculty member, I’m concerned about my job safety and security.
SB: Is there anything else you think that the campus community should know?
AG: I understand the reality of the financial situation that we are in, which is why I asked my questions on Monday at the faculty meeting. When you move from a campus of 1800 to 1900 students, which we had been for almost 20 years, to now a campus of 1440 students, I understand that a reduction in workforce is necessary, and that an equitable reduction in workforce will include both staff and faculty lines. I understand that.
However, the process by which those decisions are made also needs to be equitable and transparent, and the principles that are used need to be communicated to the constituencies.
That is what good leadership does.
There is an example in the fall. [Kenyon] has had a decline in enrollment … and their president … called together an all-campus meeting and said, “We need to make cuts. This is what is going to happen. This is how we’re going to do it. This is how we are going to make decisions.” … In addition, the cabinet temporarily took a 10% pay cut. It was very sad and it was very difficult, but what I have read is that the reactions to her actions were much more positive from the campus … because it was done with transparency, and integrity. That is not what we have seen through this process.