via Wikimedia Commons
St. Louis Community College–Forest Park
On Thursday night, St. Louis Community College students and other protesters interrupted a board of trustees meeting to oppose proposed layoffs of up to 70 teachers and 25 other staff members.
After a public comment period, protesters laid down on the ground and shouted, “Justice for our faculty!” according to news reports. Still, the board quietly huddled amidst the chanting and voted on the measure. The board members left the room without announcing their decision, but a spokesperson later told reporters that the board had approved the measure to reduce staff.
Here’s an overview of why school administrators say the cuts are necessary, as well as why students and faculty are upset by the decision.
What the board approved: St. Louis Community College has four campuses and employs 404 full-time teachers, according to St. Louis Public Radio. The board approved the layoffs as part of a budget-reduction plan that also included plans to offer voluntary buyouts and an increase in employee healthcare costs, a reduction in benefits, and a suspension of sabbaticals and potential cuts to courses and school programs, according to a statement from the school. The number of layoffs is dependent on how many faculty members accept buyouts. “Essentially, a buyout means saving a job for another person,” the statement read. Those affected by the cuts will be notified by March 1 and would then continue in their positions until May 1. In April, the board offered buyouts to almost 40 percent of its staff, and 117 people accepted the early retirement offer.
The board also approved a contract extension for Chancellor Jeff Pittman, who has been with the school since March 2015. The new deal keeps him in the position until June 2023.
Why administrators say they made the cuts: The state cut $5 million in funding to the college this year, and enrollment has dropped by a third since 2011 (from 29,128 to 19,052, according to St. Louis Public Radio). The administrators said that deficit could reach $13 million by budget year 2020 and that layoffs and buyouts will save an estimated $6 million.
"I think we can all agree that this was a difficult decision for the board, but it was necessary," Pittman said in a statement. "It's our responsibility as leaders of the college to ensure fiscal stability and to face budget challenges sooner rather than later."
How and why students and staff protested: Earlier this week, the president and vice president of the National Educators Association chapter at the community college issued an open letter stating that Pittman did not have adequate knowledge of the accounting principles used to justify the cuts and that they had not had not enough input in the administrators’ decisions. “Is Chancellor Jeff Pittman right for St. Louis Community College?” the letter states.
They also issued a letter calling for a gathering to vote on a measure of no confidence in school leadership because of “the levels of waste and mismanagement taking place at the college for years," wrote Robert Hertel, professor and president of the college's NEA chapter, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The NEA leaders have criticized Pittman for advocating for layoffs while pushing for new buildings and not reducing administrators’ salaries.
After the meeting Thursday, Emily Neal, vice president of the college’s NEA chapter, released a statement saying, “I think the board has seen the extent to which students will go to protect their educational interests.”
Tension has been building in relations between faculty and administrators prior to Thursday's meeting. At an October board meeting, according to the Post, math professor Steve Taylor stood up to express opposition to the boards’ rule that applause was not allowed at the meeting. A board member asked Taylor to leave the room, then for a police officer to remove him. When Taylor did not leave, he was tackled by the officer and arrested, police said, because he “aggressively moved” toward the board members.
What happens now: Pittman tells SLM that the decision to upgrade campus facilities is in response to “a lot of deferred maintenance.” He also says building a $39 million Center for Nursing and Health Sciences at the Forest Park campus will help the school attract more students because of the significant nursing shortage in Missouri and elsewhere. “We have a lot of strategies in place” to increase enrollment, which also include strengthening relations with local high schools and employers, Pittman says.
As to relations with faculty, he says he does “not take the vote of no confidence personally. That’s a pretty common tactic whenever a community college goes through budget reductions and there is a disagreement on business decisions.” He says there has not been time to build strong relationships since he took over in 2015, and “that’s what I will be doing going forward.”
Earlier this month, Cindy Campbell, a professor at the Florissant Valley campus and former president of the college’s NEA chapter, told the Post that the cuts will have “long-term, devastating changes to our college that we will never recover from.”
