Interim Rider CFO announces operational, budget cuts

By Grace Bertrand

Rider has temporarily halted any hiring for open positions and vacancies, as part of several operational changes made in hopes of stabilizing Rider’s financial situation, according to an Oct. 10 facultywide email. 

Any request to fill a position has to be reviewed by the appropriate vice president of the department, then Human Resources and finally by the Senior Leadership Team. The email stated that filling any vacant positions at this time “would undermine immediate efforts to control costs and stabilize operations.” 

Interim Vice President for Finance and Chief Administrative Officer Thomas Papa said in an Oct. 13 email to The Rider News, “The communication sent to faculty and staff outlines both the reasons these budgetary measures are necessary and how they are intended to help stabilize Rider’s financial position. That message speaks for itself, and we don’t have anything further to add at this time.” 

In a Sept. 24 facultywide email, the formation of a Campus Resource Preservation Committee was announced by Papa, to “provide tighter oversight of University expenditures.” The email explained, effective immediately, that Papa and three additional top-level administrators will review and approve all expenditures at Rider greater than $1,000. 

Freezing open university positions is only one of four budget-related initiatives to help “ensure stronger oversight of University resources and spending, and to create a framework for greater financial discipline moving forward,” according to the Oct. 10 email from Papa. 

Finances regarding departmental budgets must now be approved, travel not related to student experience or critical university operations are not allowed and non-essential events will be scaled back or canceled, such as the annual Thanksgiving luncheon and the Faculty and Staff Awards and Employee Appreciation Reception.

Despite a focus on “preserving resources,” the email said that Rider’s annual Thanksgiving basket donation drive would remain, as it is “an important tradition of giving back to our community.”

In an Oct. 14 interview with The Rider News, President of Rider’s chapter of American Association of University Professors Maria Villalobos-Buehner said that prohibiting travel like conferences may begin to affect faculty, as many of them use travel to advance in their careers.

She also explained that if any changes could affect the faculty’s contract with Rider, the university leadership will have to go through the “due processes.” 

“I would like to highlight that there is a process and [the university] cannot decide to go their own ways to do whatever process they think they can do,” Villalobos-Buehner said. 

Papa said in the email that the Campus Resource Preservation Committee began its efforts on Oct. 6 to review expenses greater than $1,000. Papa, Provost Kelly Bidle, Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff for Student Experience Mary-Alice Ozechoski and Vice President of University Operations Mike Reca are on the committee. 

“Its goal is not only to limit unnecessary spending, but also to establish greater transparency and consistency in how financial decisions are made,” Papa’s email said. “This committee’s authority over these matters supersedes the traditional budget approval as traditional budget authority is now suspended.”

Rider’s faculty union responds to financial changes

These changes come swiftly after Rider President John Loyack sent out an Oct. 6 universitywide email detailing suggestions on how to further help stabilize Rider’s financial standing, using feedback from listening sessions that were hosted with him and Bidle. 

Among the proposed ideas were laying off additional personnel, reducing salaries, eliminating inefficient programs, improving workload efficiency, making adjustments to employee benefits and eliminating employee reimbursements. 

Villalobos-Buehner said the proposed ideas from Loyack are suggestions the faculty has heard before from former President Gregory Dell’Omo, with no results. 

“For the past 10 years, which have been really difficult times and challenging times for our finances, [faculty] have been hearing the same message over and over again and where is the accountability of all those things that were asked? We actually, you know, gave up a lot and still, it didn’t move us forward at all,” Villalobos-Buehner said.

Communications Professor David Dewberry echoed this sentiment in an Oct. 8 issue of The Rider News, saying the methods to address Rider’s financial situation “seems to be no different than in the past.”

Dewberry also pointed out that although the idea of layoffs is not new to Rider, as several faculty were laid off over the summer, he does not want it to be used  as a business strategy habitually. 

“As a faculty member I certainly want Rider to succeed. I don’t want to leave this institution. I don’t want to have to apply for jobs. I like where I work, what I do, the people. I understand there’s some issues and people need to direct the institution,” Dewberry said. “At the end of the day, we’re people working for an organization and somtimes that organization changes and we have to deal with it.”  

As the AAUP’s contractual Oct. 31 faculty layoff deadline approaches, the faculty union’s leadership met on Oct. 8 to discuss Loyack’s correspondence and responded with a facultywide email on Oct. 9. 

Villalobos-Buehner stated in the email, “Members of the Executive Committee and I have heard from many of you, and we all agree that his plan raises serious concerns that directly threaten our livelihoods and our contract.” 

Villalobos-Buehner explained that Rider is the faculty’s home and they are “deeply invested” and “committed to how the institution moves forward.” 

The Oct. 9 email continued, urging faculty to engage in the conversations that take place in the AAUP meetings, stating, “Your presence is critical. We need to hear your voice, questions, and perspectives as we continue the fight to protect our rights, our contract, and our institution as we know it.” 

Villalobos-Buehner said it was concerning that the executive committee of the AAUP was not invited to any of the small-group listening sessions after multiple requests to be present. 

She asked, “How can we really even engage in a productive conversation when we don’t have precise information?”  

If Loyack had held a listening session with the executive committee, Villalobos-Buehner said members could have been a voice for the whole faculty. 

She said, “How can we engage in a meaningful conversation when the transparency is zero? So for collaboration to happen, transparency needs to be there, otherwise collaboration is an illusion.”