A little update from The New School, where things are not looking good at all. Yesterday all the full-time faculty in the programs slated for pause, merger, reimagining and various kinds of "discontinuation" received letters offering "voluntary separation" packages, as did all non-unionized staff across the university who have served at least four years. At the same time, all full-time faculty over 62 were offered a "voluntary early retirement" package. That's a lot of people spooked and demoralized by the suggestion they are disposable.
A little to my surprise, I didn't receive one of those letters. Being not in a department turned out to be a plus, at least for now. But almost all my friends did get a letter. The hope of course is that enough people are willing and able to take up the "voluntary" offers that there will be no need to turn to "involuntary separations," but we don't know how many people the administration wants to get off the payroll. Meanwhile rumors are swirling about significant and targeted cuts, especially in the erstwhile Graduate Faculty. Nobody seems to know who's calling the shots - deans claim to have been blindsided - so everyone feels at risk.
Acknowledging that the administration's hand has been forced by a budget crisis, this is surely the worst backdrop for ushering in what leadership was touting as the "next generation of undergraduate and graduate credentials." It's terrible for morale, and for the reputation of the school. And, as we all speculate about what programs The New School will support in the future (and the existential question whether there will be place for each of us), it undermines already strained solidarity across and within divisions. Not good times at all.
