The college is considering a reduction in guaranteed compensation and benefits for laid off tenured faculty, a move that would mark a significant departure from long-standing tenure protections at Columbia.
The discussions are taking place within the Statement Review Committee, a group composed of administrators and faculty leaders, including the interim provost and the Faculty Senate president. The committee met on Thursday, Dec. 18, days before the college closes for winter break.
Faculty who learned of the conversations raised concerns about the timing and the significance of potentially changing a key benefit for tenured faculty who lose their jobs.
Columbia’s Statement of Policy on Academic Freedom, Faculty Status, Tenure, and Due Process currently entitles tenured faculty who are laid off to full compensation and benefits for the next academic year.
“Altering such policy without clear discussion beforehand would feel like a betrayal,” Brendan Riley, chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate, told the Chronicle in an email.
Faculty Senate President Karla Fuller referred the Chronicle to Senior Associate Provost Nate Bakkum for comment.
“The current financial state of the college is not a secret,” Bakkum said in an email to the Chronicle sent Friday, Dec. 19. “We have been working on addressing this reality, and it is essential that we look at all of our policies that impact our ability to succeed in sustaining the college. This includes consideration of our policy regarding notice and compensation associated with tenured faculty terminations under adverse circumstance.”
The review is occurring against the backdrop of declining enrollment and ongoing financial strain at the college. Columbia’s budget deficit has climbed to $40 million in spite of cuts and a historic restructuring, as the Chronicle previously reported.
In the email, Bakkum said the committee has met three times since November to discuss the compensation policy and that the process includes “extensive research into practices at other institutions and the important guidance from AAUP.”
Columbia’s current policy aligns with AAUP-recommended standards, which call for at least one year of notice or salary for tenured faculty whose appointments are terminated.
Roosevelt University and School of the Art Institute of Chicago, two of Columbia’s neighboring institutions in the South Loop, offer at least one year of notice of termination or compensation to tenured faculty who are laid off while the college is in a state of financial exigency.
DePaul University offers tenured faculty at least one year of notice of termination or compensation and offers two years of notice or compensation for faculty who have been tenured for 15 years or more.
Since January, the college has laid off 48 full-time faculty members, including 32 tenured faculty.
In the first two rounds of layoffs this year, teaching-track faculty with three or more years in their positions received salary and healthcare benefits for the Fall 2025 semester, while impacted tenured faculty were compensated for the 2025–26 academic year and retained healthcare benefits through May 2026.
In each of the three rounds of layoffs, faculty did not receive a year’s notice of the termination of their appointments.
In the most recent round earlier this month, the college did not provide any severance packages to the five full-time faculty whose positions were cut. The impacted faculty included teaching-track and tenure-track faculty.
The Statement of Policy does not outline a severance policy for non-tenured faculty.
For a tenured faculty member’s employment to be terminated for reasons other than cause, the Board of Trustees must first declare an adverse circumstance that allows for actions to preserve the health of the college.
In May 2024, the Board of Trustees found that Columbia’s deficit met the criteria for adverse circumstances and voted in favor of then-President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim’s recommendations to restructure the college.
Kim’s recommendations included reducing the core curriculum from 42 to 30 credits and making $18 million in cuts for the following fiscal year. This also gave the college the ability to lay off full-time faculty with tenured appointments.
Adverse circumstances will remain in effect until the board votes to end it, which faculty have argued effectively suspends tenure at Columbia.
Removing the remaining severance benefits for laid off tenured faculty would further reduce the protections typically associated with tenure, a shift that has heightened concern among faculty leaders.
Michael Caplan, president of Columbia’s AAUP chapter, said he was disappointed that the five faculty members laid off earlier this month would not be getting the same compensation. He told the Chronicle that he hoped the administration would consult with the community before making major changes after President and CEO Shantay Bolton promised greater transparency at a faculty meeting in August.
“The fact that they have not will result in greater demoralization for the faculty and staff at Columbia,” Caplan said in an email.
Bakkum said the Statement Review Committee’s deliberations will continue through the first part of spring semester and “will be conducted through transparent engagement with the full-time faculty.”
In an email sent to full-time faculty on Friday night from the provost’s office, the Statement of Review Committee provided additional information about the timeline and opportunities for faculty discussion.
“It is essential for us to re-establish a foundation of trust and shared purpose, and we are committed to gathering input from full-time faculty and to the forthright sharing of the committee’s deliberations when we are back together after the break,” the statement said.
Faculty discussions are scheduled for a Faculty Senate meeting on Feb. 6 and the provost’s annual forum hosted by the Faculty Affairs Committee on Feb. 18. The committee intends to finalize its recommendation ahead of the Board of Trustees meeting at the end of the spring semester.
This story has been updated to include comment from Senior Associate Provost Nate Bakkum after publication and a statement from the Statement of Review Committee sent to full-time faculty through the provost’s office.
Copy Edited by Emma Jolly.
