The president’s final advisory report on how to address the college’s $38 million deficit will not be shared until May 9, the day the board meets to vote on the college’s future.
Associate Vice President Lambrini Lukidis told the Chronicle that the report from President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim would be released “along with the announcement of the decision” over possible restructuring, layoffs and closures of academic programs.
Faculty had been anticipating its release on May 2, the day it was due to the chair of the Board of Trustees.
“We had expected to be on more solid footing, have more information and engage in more conversation with the administration before the board voted, and it is a pity to not have had more time to process before we head to manifest and commencement celebrations next weekend,” said Faculty Senate President Madhurima Chakraborty, an associate professor in the English and Creative Writing Department.
Chakraborty said that full-time faculty wanted clarity about the recommendations in the initial report.
In his initial report, released on Feb. 28, Kim recommended reducing the college’s core general education requirements from 42 to 30 credits starting in Fall 2024, which would result in the possible elimination of 11 to 13 full-time faculty positions across the English and Creative Writing, Humanities, History & Social Sciences, and the Science and Mathematics departments.
Chakraborty said she recognized that the college’s Statement of Policy, which outlines the process for Kim to prepare his report and submit it to the board, does not require the final report to be shared with anyone other than the chair of the board.
“However, in our conversation with the college administration, we had been told that we would see it when President Kim sent it to the board, and it’s disappointing to hear that this is no longer true,” she said.
In his initial report, Kim said the college had met the conditions for “adverse circumstances,” which allows the board to lay off faculty and eliminate academic programs. He recommended that “adverse circumstances” remain until the deficit was closed, which the Faculty Senate’s Executive Committee criticized in its April 10 response to the draft advisory report.
“If the college holds the capacity for such terminations for an indefinite period of time, it is not tenured faculty but tenure itself that is forfeit,” according to the senate report, which will be attached to Kim’s final recommendations to the board.
The college also would be restructured under Kim’s initial plan, which could result in more than 100 staff job cuts, as the Chronicle previously reported.
On Wednesday, May 1, several dozen faculty, staff and student supporters rallied outside the Student Center to protest the layoffs and budget cuts.
The Faculty Senate is scheduled to hold its last meeting of the school year on Friday, May 3 in a hybrid format on Zoom and in person in the executive board room at the Student Center.
Copy edited by Jordilin Ruiz
