Emporia, firing

From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Emporia State University got permission on Wednesday to fire employees, including tenured professors, for any of a host of reasons, including “current or future market considerations.” Many faculty members there object that the plan essentially suspends tenure. The cuts have already begun.

The move was made possible by the Kansas Board of Regents. In January of last year, regents approved a policy that allowed the six state universities to suspend or terminate employees, including tenured professors, even if the institution had not declared financial exigency or initiated that process. The board wanted to give its institutions the flexibility they needed to deal with financial strain brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, regents said at the time.

The school’s student newspaper, The Bulletin, counts twenty firings thus far, including five in English, Modern Languages, and Journalism, and another five in Social Sciences, Sociology, and Criminology.

It’s true that other forms of work don’t offer tenure. But something people outside academia often don’t understand: a professor who loses a tenured position will find it exceedingly difficult to find another such position. There’s very little chance of lateral movement. As William Pannapacker explains in a recent Chronicle piece,

When you leave a tenured position in the humanities, the chance of finding another one — unless you are a freshly minted Ph.D. or a star in a hot field — is close to zero. You must rebrand yourself for a new career path in ways that will cut your identity to the core.

Emporia's marketing mantra, “Changing lives since 1863,” is taking on new meaning.

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2:30 p.m.: Now it’s twenty-five firings.

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10:50 p.m.: Now it’s thirty-three.

[Looking at Emporia’s English, Modern Languages, and Journalism webpage, I count seven professors, four associate professors, six instructors, three lecturers, four graduate assistants, one assistant online coordinator, and one administrative specialist.]

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July 15, 2023: Some former faculty members have filed a lawsuit. From Kansas Reflector:

Eleven former Emporia State University professors in federal court documents accuse school administrators, Kansas Board of Regents members and unknown other individuals of conspiring to fire tenured and “problematic” professors.

The federal lawsuit is a response to the university’s decision last year to fire 30 tenured or tenure-track professors as part of a KBOR-approved “framework” to stabilize finances and restructure the university. The lawsuit argues that defendants willfully violated constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, liberty, property and free speech.

The 11 former professors were targeted, the lawsuit alleges, because they were tenured, not Republicans, involved in efforts to form a union or outspoken critics of ESU president Ken Hush. The university relied on KBOR’s pandemic-era Workforce Management Policy, which stripped professors of the right to determine why they were fired, or examine reports or other evidence that was used to determine who would be fired.

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September 28, 2023: OCA reader Kirsten sends news that while overall enrollment in public higher education in Kansas has risen by 2% this fall, Emporia State has seen a steep decline in enrollment. From Little Apple Post:

The only institution in Kansas’ public higher education system with a double-digit enrollment decline this fall semester was ESU, a campus that has endured a 19.6% reduction in enrollment over the past five years. Meanwhile, the University of Kansas welcomed the largest freshman class in the school’s history and Kansas State University reported its first enrollment increase in nine years.

Emporia’s president, though, is unfazed, observing that “‘Enrollment, while important, is just part of the story.’” And he further baffles:

“The rest of the story is what it costs to operate the university. Enrollment numbers hold little significance unless they are compared to expenses. This means enrollment isn’t necessarily equal to success.”

“Enrollment isn’t necessarily equal to success”: that sounds like something a hapless George Costanza might tell the vice president for enrollment management. “But George,” the vice president might ask, “wouldn’t more students mean more money to cover expenses?” And George would have to get back to them on that.

The sad part is what’s obvious: that prospective students and their families know a failing school when they see one. Going to a school where your field of study might be cut at any time is a risky venture, and it appears that Kansans are not eager to take the risk.

Dickinson State and West Virginia University, take note.

Thanks, Kirsten.