For a second year in a row, Columbia will not grant sabbatical requests for the upcoming school year. 

Interim Senior Vice President and Provost Suzanne McBride announced the decision during the Friday, May 22 Faculty Senate meeting, citing ongoing financial pressures as the college continues broader cost-cutting efforts tied to declining enrollment and budget challenges. The move reflects a wider trend across higher education, where colleges and universities nationwide have implemented hiring freezes, layoffs and spending reductions, though relatively few institutions have publicly suspended faculty sabbaticals specifically.

“The only reason I’m doing this is because I’m trying to count every penny,” McBride told the Senate. “As much as I very much value and regret that I have to do this a second year, I just have to make this decision.”

Sabbaticals are a long-standing part of academic life at many colleges and universities, particularly for tenured faculty. They give professors dedicated time away from teaching to conduct research, pursue professional training or complete major creative projects such as books, films or exhibitions. 

At Columbia, faculty are awarded sabbaticals through a competitive application process.

Full-time, tenured faculty members who have worked full-time five or more years are eligible to apply for a sabbatical in their sixth year at the college, according to Columbia’s Faculty Manual. Those granted sabbatical leave can apply again after another six or more years. Faculty members serving in administrative positions are not eligible.

Sabbatical leaves are granted for one semester at full salary, or a faculty member seeking sabbatical may request a leave of one full academic year at one-half their salary.

Ted Hardin, associate professor in the School of Film and Television, suggested in the meeting that Columbia could use fundraising to re-establish sabbaticals. McBride said she was open to the idea, noting how important sabbaticals can be to faculty members. 

“One of the reasons it’s so painful for me to tell you this for a second year in a row is how transformative I know my one sabbatical was in 2012, and it was transformative for my whole family. You know, we were able to be in another country. I want everyone to be able to do that,” McBride said.

In an interview with the Chronicle after the meeting, Hardin said figuring out a means of supporting faculty members’ creative lives is necessary, even with the college’s financial challenges. 

He suggested that the college could allow faculty members to use equipment and college spaces for projects in the interim, while sabbaticals are suspended.

“We’re still trying to stay creative, stay current, stay active, both as creative practitioners and scholars as well as faculty members,” said Hardin, who submitted a sabbatical application last year before they were suspended the first time. 

Hardin had planned to use his sabbatical to make a series of short “narrative and poetic films about climate change issues set in Venice, Italy.” There, he also would have given presentations to an environmental humanities graduate program. 

Sabbatical applications, which are due in October to request leave for the following academic year, require faculty to submit a proposal up to 2,500 words and supporting documents for their project.

The move to suspend them was expected. At its meeting earlier this month, the Board of Trustees approved a 4:3 teaching load increase for tenured faculty and a revision to the severance and termination policy under adverse circumstances to set the notice period to 10 business days for layoffs but to retain the one year of compensation in the current policy, the Chronicle previously reported.

Brendan Riley, associate professor in the School of Communication and Culture and chair of the Faculty Affairs committee of the Senate, said some faculty who responded to an annual survey, cited the loss of sabbaticals as a reason for low morale.

“There were a number of comments that said ‘I understand why we lost sabbatical but I don’t like it,’” he said in sharing the survey results with the senate. He added that faculty universally expressed concern over “losing support for creative endeavors and scholarly work.”

Karla Fuller, professor in the School of Film and Television, said sabbaticals are not only beneficial to instructors, but also to students as well because they allow educators to take the time to learn more about their craft and bring that to their classrooms. 

“These opportunities ultimately benefit students as well as faculty,” said Fuller, the outgoing president of the senate. “Sabbaticals help instructors stay current in their fields, develop innovative courses, strengthen professional networks and enhance the reputation of the institution through publications, presentations and creative achievements.”

Fuller used her sabbatical to write a book, “Mastering the Craft of Diverse and Inclusive Screenwriting,” published in late 2024 by Routledge/Taylor & Francis.

Also at the meeting, the senate elected its new president, David Gerding, an associate professor in the School of Design.

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