Columbia laid off staff members this week as the college continues efforts to reduce its operating deficit.
The United Staff of Columbia College confirmed that 14 of its members were among those who were laid off. The college has not disclosed the total number of staff positions eliminated this week.
The layoffs came three days after faculty and staff attended an all-college summit on Tuesday, Aug. 18 focused on student support, enrollment and retention.
The Office of the President sent an email to faculty and staff on Friday, Aug. 21 announcing the layoffs.
The Chronicle first learned of the layoffs on Thursday, Aug. 20, as the staff members were being told their positions were being eliminated. The next morning, the Chronicle contacted Jourdan Thompson, interim executive director of Marketing and Communications and senior director of Campus Communications, about the layoffs. Hours later, the Office of the President sent its statement to faculty and staff.
Thompson has not yet responded to the Chronicle’s inquiry.
“As a part of our continued work to align Columbia’s operating structure with our current enrollment and fiscal realities, we have made additional staff reductions,” according to the statement. “This week, some colleagues were notified that their positions have been eliminated.”
The college did not release the names of the staff members or the areas where they worked. The Chronicle is not disclosing the names or positions of laid off individuals unless they provide consent or talk publicly about their dismissal.
The college is required to send the USoCC a transitional plan within three business days outlining how work will be redistributed to remaining unit members, third parties or non-unit faculty members. Those three days have not passed since the staff were laid off on Thursday, Aug. 20 and Friday, Aug. 21, and the union has not yet received them, said Union President Allison Geller, an enrollment operations coordinator.
“This administration has repeatedly acknowledged that cost-cutting alone cannot resolve our current financial challenges,” Geller said. “As we consider their past statements, we are left to question how these decisions were made, why staff were not informed of impending mass layoffs and why managers across the college appeared just as surprised as their employees when they learned of the position eliminations.”
According to the statement from the college, vacant positions will not be filled as the actions are a part of planned reductions to decrease the college’s financial deficit.
“It is evident that these decisions were made without sufficient consideration for the employees, managers or the students who will be most affected,” Geller said.
Several of the laid-off employees had worked at the college for more than a decade, including at least one who held a director-level position.
The latest staff layoffs follow the elimination of five instructional specialist positions in June, including several spaces tied to programs in the Schools of Fashion, Design and Visual Arts. The college currently has no plans to replace the staff who helped manage spaces such as the print center and photo studio, the Chronicle previously reported.
Asked in an email about how the layoffs will impact student spaces, Colbey Reid, dean of the Schools of Fashion, Design and Visual Arts, declined to comment.
The college has responded to enrollment declines and the increased operating deficit by cutting programs and eliminating faculty positions. Since January 2025, the college has laid off four senior administrators and 54 full-time faculty members, the Chronicle reported in May 2026.
Two years ago, Columbia laid off 70 staff across the college as it attempted to address an estimated $38 million deficit at that time.
In an interview with the Chronicle in early August, President and CEO Shantay Bolton said there is no timeline for filling the empty senior administration positions, and some of the roles may not stay the same from when the college had a larger student body. In Spring 2026, enrollment fell below 4,000 for the first time in nearly two decades.
Columbia reported an increase in incoming students for the fall semester, with a new class of about 1,100 new students compared with 632 first-time, first-year students last fall, according to Emmanuel Lalande, senior vice president of enrollment strategy and student success. Lalande also reported 316 new transfer students registered for fall classes, marking a 12% increase from last year’s 279 students.
In the email, the Office of the President’s statement reminded faculty that the students are at the forefront of these efforts.
“Keeping students at the center means protecting the academic quality, programs and support they rely on to learn, create and prepare for successful careers,” it said. “It also means being disciplined about how we use our resources.”
However, with less “student-facing” jobs as part of the layoffs, there will be a greater impact on the student body, said Amelia Lutz, Student Government Association president.
“I have full faith in the staff in these areas and their dedication to the student body that they will do their best to continue to support students where it is needed,” Lutz said. “Layoffs are always sad and they will always cause impact.”
Copy edited by Venus Tapang
