WP: Tulane Laying Off 230 Faculty Members

[Sgent]

NEW ORLEANS -- Staggered by Hurricane Katrina, Tulane University announced Thursday that it is laying off about 230 faculty members, dropping some sports and eliminating several undergraduate programs, including electrical engineering and computer science.

"This is the most significant reinvention of a university in the United States in over a century," declared Scott Cowen, the university's president.

<snip>

Before the storm struck on Aug. 29, Tulane had about 2,500 faculty members and 13,200 students and an annual budget of $593 million. The university put the cost of recovering from the storm at at least $200 million.

Tulane said it will eliminate about 180 faculty positions at its medical school and about 50 at its other graduate schools and its undergraduate program.

Tulane Laying Off 230 Faculty Members

Personal note... This affects both tenured and non-tenured full time facility.

[Behind the Aegis]

1. What a shame!

Tulane is a fantastic school! I heard (I am in the higher education field), but haven't seen in print, that Xavier is also having to take major cuts. Any NOLA people know about it?

[Sgent]

5. Read the original article

If Tulane was decimated, Xavior was hit by a nuclear bomb.

The original article mentions it, but at least temporarily, at least 2/3 of their staff has been laid off. Who knows how or when it will recover -- as it suffered tremendous damage.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. I didn't see Xavier mentioned at all.

I went to the yahoo link you provided. Was there another link?

[Sgent]

12. Sorry... got Dillard and Xavior confused

From a letter from the President of Xavior on the website...

<snip>
It is important to note that there has been a major misperception regarding where Xavier would operate in the January ‘06 semester. We were always preparing to make appropriate arrangements to be on the Xavier campus. We accepted the offer by both Tulane and Loyola to have students take classes on their campus, if those courses were not being taught at Xavier. For the past three (3) decades in our cross campus partnerships, we have had this exchange program and will continue to do so. However, we will operate our regular course schedule at the Xavier campus.

Our UNCF sister institution, Dillard University, will be using the various Tulane campus sites for their teaching and operational services. Dillard’s administration and board deemed the campus incapable of remediation for a January 2006 timeline. Xavier has worked closely with Dillard, as well, during these past weeks.

Students have already begun registering for campus housing, with nearly 2,400 (as of November 17) already indicating their intentions to return in January. Students will be dropping and adding courses on-line, beginning November 28th through December 2nd. Our plans for arranging the myriad of operational details, housing, faculty schedules and classrooms are highly dependent upon the registration numbers. Students are encouraged to address their course needs during this pre-registration period.

Financial resources have been a challenge for all of us personally, and certainly also for Xavier. Our requests for operational and reconstruction grant funds from federal support have not materialized, thus far. We had hoped for funds to maintain our full faculty and staff complement while Xavier was closed. Unfortunately, however, this was impossible. Our total loss of income in the first semester forced us to reduce our overall personnel numbers during this time.

For the record, our faculty reductions were around 30%, not 50% as reported by some media. We have a solid core of faculty who have already accepted new agreements, and we are prepared to welcome back more faculty members as students return to campus in greater numbers. These reduction decisions were difficult, but unavoidable. Our commitment to high quality and excellence are being maintained as we travel these difficult paths to recovery.

<more>

Norman C. Francis, President

Dr. Francis Letter

[Behind the Aegis]

13. Thanks!

I appreciate the update and feeling stupid (not your doing...I am just sitting here thinking, "Hey genius, why didn't you just check out their homepage!? :)). I just was interested because when I was in NOLA, I got to see parts of the school and even applied to a few openings there.

[flordehinojos]

2. how very sad ...

how very, very sad.

[GrumpyGreg]

3. Some students don't want to return, The Boston Globe did an

article on that subject earlier this week. Students from BU,Harvard,and BC not wanting to change.

What a damned shame. A young member of my family graduated from Tulane last June and she absolutely loved it.

[brentspeak]

7. The visiting students at Harvard are protesting to stay

Not going to do them much good, though; according to the article, Harvard has already said no. But I can't say I blame them for trying.

[Scooter24]

14. I think that eventually

those Tulane students at Harvard will eventually be allowed to stay. They have the weight of the student body and undergraduate council behind them as well as many professors. I'm praying for the best.

I think the main reason to deny them enrollment in the spring was because of an agreement between the two schools. However, from what I can recall, Tulane recently said they are free to re-enroll at Harvard. Harvard has already said all their transfer spots for the Spring have been taken, but what's a few more? :)

[Lisa]

4. I am so sorry to hear this ...

I imagine that there will be a ripple effect through the Tulane staff, and maybe other institutions as well, besides the ones already listed in the article. I'm a part-time sessional lecturer at a Canadian university -- and also pick up occasional courses at a community college in town. As a non-tenured instructor, I know that most of us are just scraping by (even though sessionals actually do most of the teaching at our school, and many others around North America). We are slightly better off than those at some other institutions because we have union representation, but even so, 2 of my colleagues found out this week that there will be no work for them this spring because of restructuring -- and I will be on hiatus until May, unless there's a need for a last-minute substitution.

I could have had work, but it would have meant displacing one of my co-workers (who has spent 2 years climbing the seniority ladder, and would be bumped back down to square one if I took his class). So even a minor change can affect a lot of people, that way.

I don't know Tulane's policy on hiring teaching assistants, but if there are grad students who are relying on those jobs to pay their tuition and living expenses, if fewer courses are being offered, they would also be affected.

[KamaAina]

8. Here's Dr. Cowen's master plan

http://renewal.tulane.edu/

NEW ORLEANS, December 8 – Tulane University's Board of Administrators today approved a sweeping plan that strengthens and focuses the university's academic mission while strategically addressing its current and future operations in the post-Katrina era.

The plan will achieve two major goals for the university at a pivotal moment in its history: strengthening its commitment to building a world-class educational and research institution, and implementing measures to ensure the university's financial stability....

The university will focus its undergraduate, professional and doctoral programs and research in areas where it has attained, or has the potential to achieve, world-class excellence. It will suspend admission to those programs that do not meet these criteria....

The financial recovery aspects of the renewal plan address the budget shortfall the university anticipates in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and will result in the phased elimination of approximately 50 faculty positions in discontinued undergraduate and professional degree programs. Another 180 faculty positions will be eliminated at the medical school as a result of the decreased population and changing health care needs of New Orleans.

Med school is the one really getting hammered. It is now imperative that LSU rebuild its N.O.-based med school pronto, or the city will eventually have no health care system at all. Question: Does this affect the School of Tropical Medicine, one of a handful in the U.S.?

Another question: How exactly will they determine which programs "do not meet those criteria"? The potential for abuse there is rather high, I fear.

Ex-Tulanian here; although it was only University College (continuing ed) and I left town before I even completed the certificate, Tulane remains on my resume and shall continue to do so. We've all been looking to Tulane to be the engine that drives not only the city's academic community but, to a considerable extent, the larger community as well; Tulane is New Orleans' largest private employer, much as Yale is in New Haven.

Loyola, right next door, has also been rocked by layoffs this month. Haven't heard anything on Xavier.

Side note: Tulane demolished the studio of its radio station WTUL (where yours truly once held forth as the "Uptown Ruler"). Apparently they have a site available off campus, though. (phew!)

http://www.wtul.fm

[Lisa]

9. my rust-belt city was saved by its university

In particular the medical school, and its associated hospitals, rose to prominence after the steel market collapsed and many of the local mills closed or sought bankruptcy protection. Now the education and health sciences sector is basically holding the town together. (Interestingly enough, the university was basically "purchased" by the local community ... that is, the main campus was bought with community contributions early in the 20th century ... it began as a Baptist divinity school and moved there with the promise of local support. It's now a public or "state" funded university.)

Pittsburgh is another example of this kind of thing.

As you say, universities can be a crucial factor. And it looks like not just Tulane, but Loyola, and probably a lot of the smaller universities and colleges as well, could be in for a rough time. (In a small department, just losing one faculty member can have a major impact on course offerings ... and on the direction taken.)

[KamaAina]

10. Not quite as scary as I had feared

http://renewal.tulane.edu/students_undergraduate.shtml

Public Health and Tropical Medicine stays (it's separate from the Med School). Most of the suspended programs are doctoral; only "a small number" of undergrad programs.

[Princess Turandot]

11. There was a piece on this on the NBC national news tonight..

Tulane's president said that more than 80% of previously registered students had signed up for January classes. They are also accepting students from the schools that were substantially damaged.
They've spent $150 million of their own funds on repairs. Interestingly, they are now making a community service stint a requirement to graduate, with an eye towards helping NO.

[entanglement]

15. What a tragedy?

Hey repukes, how about a few million for a nice school like Tulane (Halliburton execs can do without that second personal jet, ya know?)