Faculty layoffs postponed to last week of December
By Grace Bertrand
Faculty layoffs that were set to be announced on the week of Dec. 15 have been postponed to the week of Dec. 29 due to ongoing discussions between the faculty union and the administration, according to a Dec. 20 facultywide email from Provost Kelly Bidle.
Given the new timeline for the layoffs, Bidle announced that she will be notifying those laid off through individual Zoom meetings that will be scheduled over email.
The layoffs of 30 to 35 full-time faculty, a dip from the number of layoffs originally proposed, is estimated to save $4.8 million annually, according to Rider President John Loyack’s March to Sustainability Plan. Director of Communications Rachel Stengel said the drop in layoffs is due to impending retirements that were recently made known, which would help meet the university’s financial needs.
After the silence that followed the end of the fall semester on Dec. 12, Rider’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors sent out a facultywide email explaining that the faculty union and the administration were at odds over the issue of determining which professors would be laid off.
A majority of the layoffs were determined through a review over the summer of annual full-time faculty performance reports, Bidle said in a Nov. 11 interview with The Rider News. The reports were analyzed using a rubric to evaluate performance and contributions across four major categories: merit, skills, leadership and academic area of discipline, according to the Plan.
This is a major departure from the faculty’s current contract, which states that adjuncts and then lecturers from disciplines must be laid off before any tenured faculty, in order of seniority.
The dispute over using the administration’s rubric vs. seniority to determine who will be laid off has been sent to arbitration, according to the AAUP’s Dec. 19 email, which is the third and final step in the grievance process. In this step, an arbitrator is appointed by the university and, after looking at presented information from both the university and the faculty union, they will make a final decision.
The AAUP said that because the arbitrator understands the urgency of the layoffs, she will be issuing a decision before New Year’s.
“We understand everyone is eager to hear these decisions as soon as possible, as we recognize and acknowledge the anxiety this entire process has created,” Bidle wrote in her Dec. 20 email. “However, given the seriousness and impact of the situation, and the ongoing discussions between the administration and the AAUP, it is essential that we move forward with care and thoughtfulness.”
The Rider News will continue to cover this issue as it develops.
