Members of Columbia’s staff union say the college violated its union contract by failing to provide advance notice before eliminating positions in the Career Center and Columbia Central in recent weeks.

United Staff of Columbia College leadership said that staff members learned that three colleagues had lost their jobs after they were let go. The union does not keep track of non-union staff cuts.

The college is “presently discussing this matter” with the union, Senior Director of Campus Communications Jourdan Thompson told the Chronicle in an email.

The latest reductions come nearly two years after Columbia’s Board of Trustees declared the college to be under “adverse circumstances,” a designation within the institution’s Statement of Policy that allows the administration to restructure programs and lay off tenured faculty during periods of severe financial strain. 

Columbia laid off 70 staff across the college in May 2024 as the college attempted to address an estimated $38 million deficit.

US of CC president Allison Geller said the college communicated its financial situation and the potential for job loss ahead of those position eliminations, which gave staff the chance to prepare.

“What we’re seeing right now is almost the complete opposite of that,” said Geller, an enrollment operations coordinator at Columbia.

Geller said that the latest cuts come at a time when the college is expecting remaining staff to support celebrations that mark the end of the academic year.

Columbia will host its annual Manifest Arts Festival Saturday, May 16, followed by commencement on Sunday, May 17, two of the busiest days of the academic year for student services and campus operations staff.

“Gear up for Manifest, gear up for graduation, be there as the support system, but do it with a smile on your face and don’t acknowledge that your colleagues have just been laid off right next to you,” Geller said.

The recent staff cuts are the latest in a series of layoffs and administrative restructuring efforts carried out as Columbia attempts to reduce spending amid declining enrollment and a deficit that has grown to $40 million.

Since January 2025, the college has laid off 48 full-time faculty members, including 32 tenured faculty.

In March, the college laid off multiple senior administrators, including former Interim President and CEO Jerry Tarrer, former Chief of Staff Laurent Pernot and Jeffrey Reuter, associate vice president of budget, planning and analysis.

Former Associate Vice President of Strategic Communications and External Relations Lambrini Lukidis, who worked for the college for eight years as its top spokesperson, was laid off in April.

The college also laid off Interim Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations Dirk Matthews as part of a “team restructure to streamline operations at the college,” Thompson said. The team is currently led by Aubrie Willaert, vice president for development and alumni engagement, who was one of three new administrators to join the college in January.

One of the factors driving Columbia’s financial crisis is its declining student enrollment, which hit a 20-year low this spring, as the Chronicle previously reported.

“It wasn’t a secret that our office had a lot of struggles in terms of being able to meet enrollment goals,” said US of CC Communications Chair Jesus Monroy, a transfer specialist in the office of undergraduate admissions. 

“We echoed and yelled very loudly, ‘It is because you cut us and you asked us to do everything,’” Monroy said. “It was impossible. We didn’t have time to train properly.”

In spite of the declining enrollment, Columbia is expecting more new students in the fall.

“In terms of overall trends, we are seeing positive momentum compared to this time last year,” Emmanuel Lalande, senior vice president of enrollment strategy and student success, told the Chronicle in April. 

Columbia’s enrollment challenges come as colleges nationwide are facing an ongoing “demographic cliff,” as falling birth rates following the Great Recession in 2008 caused a decline in the number of 18-year-olds and smaller first-year classes.

Geller said that while the challenges facing higher education as a whole are unavoidable, the college must focus on improving the experience of its students and employees.

“We can directly impact every single student who is currently here. We can directly impact the lives of every single staff member, faculty member, administrator who is here,” Geller said. “Those are the small changes that add up together to create an institution that can continue to exist even when enormous industry-wide challenges are coming.” 

Geller and Monroy said that staff want the college to see the value that the eliminated positions have on Columbia’s future. 

“We cannot survive on a skeleton crew,” Monroy said. “There has to be an investment in the people who are providing these services to our students, because otherwise, it’s going to fall apart.”

Copy edited by Katie Peters