Portland State University hands pink slips to 17 faculty

Over a dozen faculty at Portland State University are grappling with the new reality that this is the last school year they’ll be teaching at PSU.

On Friday morning, 17 non-tenure track faculty found an official termination letter in their university email inbox. All of the faculty members who received the letters are represented by PSU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The last day they’ll have jobs at PSU is June 15.

The layoffs are not a surprise. University administrators had been signaling for months that staff cuts were coming this school year as PSU attempts to decrease its personnel costs and climb out of an $18 million gap in its operating budget.

Still, many faculty at Portland State are rattled.

“I’m concerned the university is making decisions that haven’t been fully vetted or thoughtful. I’m concerned that these layoffs will contribute to enrollment declines,” said PSU-AAUP President Emily Ford. “I’m concerned for our students who are losing professors who teach undergraduate courses.”

Of the 17 faculty layoffs, 15 stem from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The other two positions were cut from the College of Urban and Public Affairs. Ford said all of them are faculty teaching positions.

Friday’s layoffs could have been much larger. On October 15, 94 non-tenure track faculty were notified their jobs were on the chopping block. Under PSU-AAUP’s contract with the university, notice-of-layoff letters were required at least 60 days before an official termination notice.

In a letter to the campus community sent Friday afternoon, PSU President Ann Cudd and Provost Shelly Chabon said the layoffs are needed to move the university to a financially sustainable future.

“Today marks a difficult milestone in our important efforts to achieve the financial sustainability necessary to continue to serve our students now and into the future,” said Cudd and Chabon in the letter. “These are our valued colleagues and friends and each notice has a profound impact on our community.”

Cudd said PSU deans have been working to find other potential cost savings within their departments to keep involuntary layoffs at a minimum.

The campus-wide letter also noted that 23 faculty have chosen to retire early through a retirement incentive program offered this year. That voluntary program ends next week on Dec. 18.

At a PSU Board of Trustees meeting last month, Cudd and other administrators presented a financial sustainability plan designed to close the university’s budget deficit by the end of this school year. A reduction of faculty and a restructuring of degrees and course offerings are key to the plan.

Portland State’s budget woes largely stem from a continued and steep decline in student enrollment. Total headcount enrollment at PSU has dropped by 21% since 2019. The university relies on student tuition dollars to help keep it afloat. At the same time, necessary costs to operate the university - like administration and faculty salaries - have risen.

But not everyone is convinced that Portland State’s financial situation is so severe.

A report compiled by an accounting professor at Eastern Michigan University, at the request of PSU-AAUP, contends that despite declining enrollment and rising expenses, PSU is in good financial health. At the last board meeting, Chair Benjamin Berry directed the university’s finance department to compare the outside analysis with PSU’s audited financial documents.

“This comparison will be shared with the campus community in the winter term and we look forward to moving forward together with a shared understanding of PSU’s budgeting process and financial reporting practices,” said Berry in a letter sent to the campus community on Thursday.

Bracing for more cuts

While some Portland State faculty can now breathe a sigh of relief, others are still on edge.

More layoffs could still be coming for faculty and staff who work under shorter termination notice timelines.

PSU’s faculty union cannot reverse the university’s layoff decision of its members. But it could delay the process and extend how long some faculty stay on the job.

In November, PSU-AAUP filed a grievance accusing Portland State of violating the union’s contract. The union alleges the university did not follow agreed upon termination procedures.

“[PSU] violated the contract because they have to make the notices due to curricular changes or program requirements,” said Ford. “But we haven’t seen any changes. None of that has been announced yet.”

Cudd said university administration does not interpret the contract language that way.

If successful, the union’s grievance would cancel out the Oct. 15 notices to faculty and essentially set back the clock on the termination process. But this course of action could take up to eight months to complete, according to Ford.

All of this comes as PSU-AAUP bargains a new contract for the over 1,100 faculty, staff and researchers it represents at Portland State. The union’s contract expired on Nov. 30.

Last month, the union filed for mediation with the state after a breakdown in bargaining. The first mediation session between the two parties is scheduled for Jan. 15.