The college laid off 23 full-time faculty members this week, a historic dismissal that the Chronicle reported after Interim President and CEO Jerry Tarrer and Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David sent an email on Tuesday, Jan. 14 to faculty and staff.
The layoffs included nine teaching-track faculty and 14 tenured faculty members who hold the rank of associate professor and professor.
The college did not name the impacted faculty, and although the Chronicle subsequently learned who many of them were, we chose not to publish their names.
Some readers have questioned our decision and asked us to name the impacted faculty members.
While we understand the concern behind these inquiries, especially from students wondering if a favorite professor or someone who taught them was laid off, we have to weigh that against the public need for the information.
It is up to the individual faculty members to share, and if they agree to be talked to and quoted in the Chronicle, we will publish their names. Until then, we do not believe there is compelling public interest in sharing that information without their consent.
Columbia has been a professional home for many dedicated faculty members, some of whom have been laid off after years — in some cases, decades — of service.
This past year has been challenging for Columbia’s students and faculty. As the school implements significant changes to address a $17 million budget deficit, many students are left with uncertainties about their own futures and the futures of their instructors.
These faculty will return to the classroom when the spring semester starts at the end of the month. They may or may not choose to share with students that this is their final semester. That will be up to them, and if they do decide to, we will consider sharing more widely with our readers once they make it public.
In the meantime, we are going to let people process this life-changing news without a spotlight on them. We are going to let them figure out what comes next and what they will do and how they will support their families. We will let them come together privately to support each other with their colleagues.
Amid this period of transition, it’s important to approach the situation with sensitivity toward those whose lives have been deeply affected.
When we interviewed David, we did ask her for more information about which schools the faculty were from and what areas they taught. She declined to provide that.
The Chronicle will continue to ask questions. Like many of you, we want to know more about why the particular faculty were selected, what procedures exist for them to appeal, how many more layoffs will be coming and what criteria may be used for those.
As a student newspaper, we provide an important check on the decisions made at Columbia, and we will continue to be that.
But we won’t simply publish names for the sake of it.
Copy edited by Patience Hurston