Chemeketa Community College intends to lay off or reduce the contracts of 11 faculty, in a decision the faculty union calls “unreasonable and unnecessary.”
In late January, college administrators notified six full-time faculty that they were being laid off at the end of the academic year in June. Another five were told their contracts would be reduced to 10 months, one or two shorter than their original contracts.
The Chemeketa Board of Education meets Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. at Chemeketa Community College, 4000 Lancaster Dr. N.E.
The meeting will also be live streamed online.
Faculty members, including those who received notices that they will be losing their jobs, are expected to appear at the meeting and comment on the decision.
The Chemeketa Faculty Association submitted a 10-point report prepared by the union’s president, Steve Wolfe, for the meeting.
“Ultimately, faculty have been retrenched not because layoffs were necessary, but because the college administration chose to do this,” the union statement said. “These retrenchments are unreasonable, unnecessary, unjustified, and do not help the college fulfill its mission, nor do they reflect Chemeketa’s values.”
The college said that the decision is the result of budget issues, stemming from a decrease in enrollment.
“We currently have about half the students we had 10 years ago, but have retained about 90% of our staffing during the same period,” Chemeketa spokeswoman Marie Hulett, the executive director of institutional advancement, said in an email to Salem Reporter on Tuesday.
Chemeketa had 10,126 students enrolled during fall quarter 2021, about 500 fewer than the fall of 2020.
“Our budget is dependent upon strong enrollment numbers and though we have had some modest gains this past year, they do not get us to where we need to be,” she said.
Beyond the 10% decrease in staffing over the past 10 years, the college had 91 vacant positions as of Jan. 18, including 66 paid for by the college’s general fund.
In a November meeting, faculty urged college leaders to look for cuts in administration and overhead costs first, and said that the college has a relatively high ratio of administrators to faculty compared to other similar colleges.
In that meeting, the faculty presented a petition signed by 147 faculty that pushed back against faculty cuts.
Chris Nord, vice president for full-time faculty of the Chemeketa Faculty Association, said that union leaders have not heard from the board about that petition. He said he will bring that up in Wednesday’s meetings.
With the retrenchment effective June 31, Nord said the affected faculty and the union have until May 31 to present alternatives.
“From my point of view, the best alternative would be no retrenchments at all. The basis for these retrenchments, I would suggest, is false,” he said.
Nord said that budgetary impacts aren’t listed as justification for retrenchment under their contract, which allows for cuts due to a lack of financial resources, low enrollment, or organizational or technology changes.
The union’s 10-point report also claims that the college is in a “strong financial position” with enough reserves to maintain all faculty.
College officials told Salem Reporter that while the school maintains adequate ending balances, they expect a budget deficit of over $8 million due to low enrollment, which was presented in an Oct. 28 budget update.
“Considering the historical trend of declining enrollment, along with uncertainty in the level of state funding that will be received for the next year, it is important for the college to maintain its strong financial position to remain fiscally sustainable moving forward,” Hulett said in a Wednesday email.
She said the college is addressing the deficit through a proposed tuition increase of $2 per credit which will address 4% of the deficit, with budget cuts making up the majority of the changes to offset the deficit. Board members will vote on the tuition increase during Wednesday’s meeting.
In its report, the union said that faculty employees make money for the college.
“The only way the college generates revenue, either directly or indirectly, is by offering classes, workshops, and other training opportunities, all of which require faculty to either teach them or provide direct support to classroom faculty,” it says.
Hulett said that impacted positions will be identified in future budget committee presentations, and currently there is no staff report regarding the layoffs decision.
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-704-0355.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
