The college laid off 23 full-time faculty members on Tuesday, Jan. 14, a historic dismissal that was announced to the school in an email from Interim President and CEO Jerry Tarrer and Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David. Nine teaching-track faculty members will not have their contracts renewed, and 14 faculty members with tenure appointments will be let go after the spring 2025 semester.
This includes five faculty from the School of Film and Television, sources told the Chronicle.
Some faculty who were laid off shared on social media or told the Chronicle that they had invites from administrators show up on their calendars for online meetings on Tuesday. They were then notified of the termination in the meeting.
Tenured faculty met with David and the faculty member’s interim school director while teaching-track faculty met with their interim school director and Suzanne McBride, dean of faculty affairs
“One of the things that we wanted to do from the actions that were taken yesterday was to make sure we were providing clear and consistent and complete information,” David said. She said the conversation was carefully planned to ensure everyone received all the information they believed was important at the time which was then followed up “with information in writing so that no one would feel stressed.”
The executive committee of the Faculty Senate met with David on Friday, Jan. 10 prior to the layoffs and “highlighted the need for the college to provide all the resources that terminated faculty members might need as they are transitioning to their future positions elsewhere,” said Rojhat Avsar, president of Faculty Senate.
Senate leaders requested the full list of laid off faculty, which has not yet been released, as well as their schools, ranks and years of service, he said.
“I want to respect the privacy of the individuals who have been impacted,” David said when asked by the Chronicle to specify which schools were affected by the layoffs.
The layoffs came mostly in programs that were consolidated or eliminated in the massive restructuring that took place last fall as Columbia attempts to reduce its $17 million deficit.
Avsar said that the layoffs were not a surprise.
“Although we knew that the decision was coming, what we didn’t know was who the impacted faculty members were going to be,” Avsar said.
The faculty who lost their jobs represent about 10% of Columbia’s 233 faculty as of last fall. Several of those who were laid off are faculty of color.
“So it is, it is a large reduction, and we’re talking many faculty members who have been serving college for many years,” he said.
David expressed her willingness to attend a Faculty Senate meeting to address questions and provide as much transparency as possible regarding the actions taken and how those measures are expected to benefit Columbia College in the future
The next scheduled senate meeting is Feb. 7.
The college’s Board of Trustees voted in December to eliminate or consolidate nearly half of Columbia’s programs on the recommendations of David. Some of the faculty were part of the working groups that restructured the academic programs. The college will offer 33 undergraduate and seven graduate degrees, starting in Fall 2025, as the Chronicle previously reported.
The Board of Trustees voted last May that the college had met the conditions for “adverse circumstances,” paving the way to lay off faculty with tenure appointments. The board also voted to reduce the college’s core requirements from 42 to 30, following the recommendation of former President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim who stepped down last summer.
In an advisory report to the board, Kim said he expected the college to lay off 11 to 13 full-time faculty across the former English and Creative Writing, Humanities, History & Social Sciences and the Science and Mathematics department because of changes to the core. But that number doubled with this round of lay-offs, which also went well beyond faculty who teach in the core.
Asked about additional layoffs, David said they will “have the responsibility of not only launching the new program array, but also continuing to serve the students who are already here, who are on the old program array.” The school’s instructional needs will begin to shift as students in the old program advance and graduate. “We will continue to make an evaluation as to what faculty we think we need moving forward,” David said.
Michael Caplan, president of the college’s AAUP advocacy chapter, expressed deep sadness over the layoffs and reaffirmed the chapter’s commitment to supporting affected faculty. “We have been, and continue to be, dismayed and saddened by these events and want to offer our support,” Caplan said in an email.
Teaching-track faculty with three or more years in their positions will receive salary and healthcare benefits until the Fall 2025 semester. Meanwhile, impacted tenured faculty will be compensated for the 2025–26 academic year and will retain healthcare benefits through May 2026.
Teaching-track faculty have contracts that are renewed yearly. They generally teach four courses per semester. Renewals also went out on Tuesday, letting those faculty know they had not been laid off.
The college has said it would not lay off tenure-track faculty, those assistant professors who were still in the process of earning tenure.
The college also laid off 70 staff members on May 30.
“This is a difficult step to take, it is a step that is taken recognizing how much it will challenge our community and how much it will also have a personal impact on a lot of people,” David said. “It is nonetheless necessary so that we can align our resources to our instructional needs and so that we can sustain the college moving forward.”
Additional reporting by Vivian Richey
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera and Patience Hurston
This story has been updated.
Resumen en Español:
Columbia anunció el despido de 23 miembros de la facultad de tiempo completo el martes, 14 de enero, marcando una reducción histórica en el personal como parte de los esfuerzos para abordar un déficit de $17 millones. Los recortes, que incluyen cinco profesores de la Escuela de Cine y Televisión y una mezcla de profesores y personal de instrucción, se derivan principalmente de programas que fueron consolidados o eliminados durante la reestructuración del semestre pasado.
Los miembros afectados de la facultad estarán empleados hasta el final del año académico actual, pero dejarán sus puestos al comienzo del semestre de otoño de 2025. Los miembros de la facultad permanente afectados por los recortes mantendrán su salario de este año académico y beneficios hasta Mayo 2026.
Esta es una noticia en desarrollo.