Yesterday, several members of the United Academics Executive Council met with Provost Long to hear the Scholz administration’s plan for anticipated faculty layoffs. While we appreciate the Provost’s commitment to communicating with UA, it is important to note that these meetings have not been a venue for active consultation, but rather a space where we have been informed of administrative plans.
We have shared our concerns within these meetings, but these meetings are not like bargaining where proposals are exchanged between parties. We have made it clear that we would like to engage meaningfully with the Scholz administration to address possible budgetary deficits in ways that do not involve laying off faculty and staff, but have not yet been given the opportunity to do so.
From this meeting, we have learned that it is likely that the Scholz administration will begin sending layoff notices to faculty members the week of September 8th, citing Article 25 to lay off tenured faculty members. The Scholz administration is claiming that there is a “structural” budget deficit that must be corrected immediately, although his administration has not yet offered any evidence in support of these claims, how “structural” deficits are different than financial exigency, nor explained why immediate action is needed.
Provost Long and college deans are working under an expedited timeline, set by President Scholz and CFO Moffitt, in order to report their actions to correct the budget deficit at the September 15-16 Board of Trustees meeting. This expedited timeline has made it all but impossible for meaningful faculty input to be solicited, as mandated by our CBA. What we hear from Department Heads suggests a lack of clear administrative process. Provost Long stated that he is working with Deans to finalize their proposals for how to manage the budget deficit in their Schools and Colleges; however, certain Department Heads report that their Dean has presented them with layoff decisions that have already been determined and that they have been given no meaningful mechanism for providing considered feedback on the Dean’s decision.
The Scholz administration is dubiously identifying faculty to eliminate within a fraction of the time that was spent in evaluating these faculty for promotion, without a clear process that enables faculty consultation. United Academics is certain that this expedited process will have resounding negative effects on academic freedom, student experiences, recruitment of future faculty, and the reputation of UO more broadly. Who would take a job at an institution where tenure is functionally non-existent? What students would want to enroll at a university where their programs, classes and faculty could be terminated over the summer with no input about how these decisions would affect them?
We also have grave concerns regarding how we will fulfill the academic and research mission of this university. We are anticipating the largest incoming class at the same time as losing many of our faculty colleagues and support staff. Faculty are already stretched by current demands on their time, we are not flourishing, and there is no capacity to cover the work of others.
We have demanded to bargain over the impacts of these layoffs, and will inform you as we progress through that process.
Please let us know how you anticipate, or have experienced, the impacts of these layoffs on your workload: Workload Survey
As we have not been invited to provide meaningful consultation to address the current state of our university’s finances, we plan to share our thoughts with the Board of Trustees at the next meeting on September 16. We call on all faculty to prepare to rally on this date and strongly communicate to university leadership our thoughts on how to steer the institution in a sustainable direction.
UA leadership will host listening sessions for union members on Tuesday, 8/19 from 2-3pm and Wednesday, 8/20 from 10-11am. While we will likely not have additional information to share, we want to create space for members to come together and share what you’re hearing, feeling, and thinking about ways we can collectively push back. Zoom in here.