Updated: Indiana State University to cut administration positions, jobs as part of $2.3 million budget reduction

WANTED: Passionate Sycamore Fanatics. That You?

Register NOW to join our community of die-hard Sycamore fans.

sdjessie

The Varsity Level
Supporter
Toggle to Graphic display.
Hold for 2 seconds to lock graphic mode



Layoffs begin at Indiana State University

Job cuts ‘smaller than initially feared,’ says provost

By Sue Loughlin

Tribune-Star

Lori Henson, who has taught journalism at Indiana State University for 11 years, learned Friday that she is among faculty and other employees losing their jobs because of enrollment losses and budget cuts. “I am the only faculty line in journalism, and my position ends May 31,” she wrote on social media. She is an instructor who specializes in journalism.

How many ISU faculty are being terminated, and in what areas, was not immediately available. ISU has said that due to enrollment losses, budget cuts would be necessary. “We’re in the midst of this process and will have more to say when it’s completed” sometime this spring, ISU President Deborah Curtis said on Friday. She had no further comment.

In an interview, Henson commented on the elimination of her position as a non-tenured instructor. “I’m not certain what this means for journalism education at ISU.” She teaches in the communication department.

She is exploring her options. “I don’t know what will happen. I’m actually pretty zen about the whole thing. I have ideas and I have people contacting me in various ways. We’ll see what happens.”

Henson said she has a bigger concern. “I think that we as a society and especially as an institution of higher education need to value journalism and its role in a free and democratic society,” she said.

In a newsletter, Chris Olsen, ISU provost and vice president for academic affairs, stated that faculty affected by reductions were to be notified by their deans Friday or very early next week “and will receive a letter detailing rights and benefits soon after that.”

“As we have suggested since last year, it will not be possible to meet our budget reductions this year without eliminating some regular faculty, full-time staff and administrative positions.

Turn to LAYOFFS, A7


HENSON


OLSEN


Layoffs

Continued from A1

“The number of regular faculty members that we are not able to have back next year looks to be smaller than initially feared, which is a relief. But these are very difficult decisions, and we all know how hard it is to lose valued colleagues.” The final number of regular faculty reductions might not be known until later in spring, “as we learn more about turnover, including potential retirements, and receive the final state budget appropriation,” Olsen wrote.

“It’s difficult to balance the desire to let faculty know as soon as possible with the reality that there will be turnover between now and the end of the spring semester that will affect our personnel and budget situation.”

The number of full-time staff members displaced from Academic Affairs “will be very small and finalized in the next few weeks,” Olsen stated.

In response to the developments, ISU Faculty Senate chairman James Gustafson said, “It’s terribly sad to be losing colleagues. We knew from the beginning of the year this was likely. We did all we could as faculty advocates to minimize it, and it really is far fewer people than was initially communicated to us, but it is still a difficult day nonetheless.”

Enrollment declines have had a budget impact, and ISU is in the process of making budget reductions and realignments. The university is looking at programs that are in demand, and “we’re trying to adjust what resources go to the programs that seem to have a demand,” Curtis stated Jan. 27.

ISU’s enrollment has been declining over the past several years, due to a number of factors and trends, including the pandemic.

This past fall, overall headcount enrollment was 8,658, compared to 9,459 in fall 2021, representing an 8.5% drop.

Fall 2017 enrollment was 13,045, which means that fall headcount has declined nearly 34% since that time.

ISU points out that freshmen enrollment was up in fall 2022, and the fall to spring freshmen persistence rate was 85%, up five points from spring 2022 (80%) and 10 points up from spring 2021 (75%).

In November, Curtis announced that the university had to reduce expenses by at least $12 million for the 2023-24 budget.

Olsen’s newsletter addressed ongoing efforts in academic affairs to streamline administration, reorganize units and make base budget reductions.

He said the reorganization of Extended Learning was completed last year and anyone who wanted to stay at ISU was able to stay.

“We are working similarly now to offer some staff members other positions at ISU if their current positions are eliminated through reorganization. That has happened successfully, in multiple cases, already. Again, these conversations are ongoing and the decisions can’t happen all at once, but we will progress as quickly as possible,” he stated.

He also noted that while the current retirement policy is not being changed, ISU will offer eligible tenured faculty an additional 20% increment of their current base salary in addition to the amount they would already be eligible to receive.

“This incentive is to help faculty plan for, or make retirement decisions, allow for more confident budget planning for 2023-2024 and beyond, and to align better instructional resources to enrollment levels,” Olsen said.

Olsen said ISU remains “in a comparatively strong position in terms of budget and personnel alignment when compared to many other colleges and universities. We have been able to avoid almost any layoffs before now because of our careful management of vacant positions, both faculty and staff, and our judicious decision-making.

“The budget reset that we are experiencing this year is larger than usual, in part because we’ve benefited from one-time federal stimulus money over the last two years. We always adjust budgets. This year is larger than usual, but it will put us in a much more confident position as we go forward in a post-pandemic enrollment environment.”

ISU also is making progress on reorganization within Academic Affairs, trimming administration to operate more efficiently, he stated.

The Faculty Senate recently approved the concept of a reorganization of graduate education administration. The central College of Graduate and Professional Studies will be eliminated, replaced by a decentralized Graduate School led by a director to help oversee and coordinate graduate resources and programs.

Many details will be finalized over the next two months, but much work has already been done, Olsen stated. The reorganization, and targeted reduction of unfilled GA (graduation assistant) positions, will reduce the base budget by $1.25 million.

In addition, Linda Maule, University College dean, and Susan Powers, associate vice president, are working on a plan to reorganize and streamline the administration of advising across campus.

“This will remove the necessity for a separate University College and be ready by the end of May, timed with Dean Maule’s resignation and return to a full-time faculty position,” Olsen wrote.

They will present the plan, take input, make revisions and discuss details with the deans and associate deans before it is implemented.

What University College is doing now with advising (bolstered by the Lilly Grant, or “Project Success”) “is clearly working,” Olsen said. “This is evidenced by dramatically higher persistence rates and improved academic performance. We don’t want to jeopardize that, and indeed the plan will be to extend as much of this model as possible to the entire undergraduate student population.”

In another change, Dean Robin Crumrin has announced her retirement from the Cunningham Memorial Library within the next year. In anticipation of that change, “We have begun discussing what the administration of library services will look like in the future.”

The current administrative reorganizations do not primarily involve the five traditional colleges or academic departments. “However, I expect future discussions and plans will do that,” Olsen stated.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at [email protected] Follow Sue on Twitter @ TribStarSue


CURTIS

Copyright (c)2023 The Tribune Star, Edition 2/4/2023Powered by TECNAVIA
o
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
Okay. So what would have done differently?? I know what I would have done differently. I want to know from someone on the inside - a long time Sycamore. What would have done differently to avoid this current situation?? Anyone can post an article… Give us your two cents. Don’t hold back.
 
I think that we as a society and especially as an institution of higher education need to value journalism and its role in a free and democratic society,

It would be nice if this were true. Socialist, totalitarian countries like Nazi Germany, Russia, China, and Washington DC have proven that the "free" press can be controlled for suppression of free speech and the spread of propaganda.
 
I think that we as a society and especially as an institution of higher education need to value journalism and its role in a free and democratic society,

It would be nice if this were true. Socialist, totalitarian countries like Nazi Germany, Russia, China, and Washington DC have proven that the "free" press can be controlled for suppression of free speech and the spread of propaganda.
Ohh we have free speech...it just mostly goes one direction along party lines. The left can be in denial all they want, but watch a press conference with Biden vs. when Trump was in offense. It's like a charity retreat for Mr. Biden and Trump was getting fired at from all directions and on the defense the whole time. Late night comedy, full on attack of anything conservative and a free pass for the disaster of Biden/Harris. Those two are so easy to make fun of too... anyway, yes Ms. Henson, please value "journalism and its role in a free and democratic society."
 
Okay. So what would have done differently?? I know what I would have done differently. I want to know from someone on the inside - a long time Sycamore. What would have done differently to avoid this current situation?? Anyone can post an article… Give us your two cents. Don’t hold back.

Yeah, I'm interested in hearing that.

I'd imagine the layoffs were data driven as the article mentions for programs that just don't get bodies in them anymore. It's one thing to say "you have to keep journalism" but if you aren't getting people coming to your school for that major, you just can't. English classes aren't going away so essentially you respond to the market, you cut the number of journalism classes you offer and it becomes an English degree minor or just some electives people can take for those that want to dabble. Further, it isn't like journalism is getting wiped off the map. There are schools out there where aspiring journalists go -- Indiana State is not one of them.

But back to the my main point, the school has to be agile. It needs to be onboard majors of the future and offboard those where the potential job pool and earnings potential has gone extinct. Hopefully people understand this. People have to take emotion and nostalgia out of the process.
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
Ohh we have free speech...it just mostly goes one direction along party lines. The left can be in denial all they want, but watch a press conference with Biden vs. when Trump was in offense. It's like a charity retreat for Mr. Biden and Trump was getting fired at from all directions and on the defense the whole time. Late night comedy, full on attack of anything conservative and a free pass for the disaster of Biden/Harris. Those two are so easy to make fun of too... anyway, yes Ms. Henson, please value "journalism and its role in a free and democratic society."
The biggest problem is that our major media outlets are all mostly based out of either NYC, DC, or LA, which are are arguably the 3 most liberal cities in America. Even during the '84 Reagan landslide NYC and DC voted Democrat. Those places have always been extremely liberal and always will be, it's just in their DNA. Unfortunately they hire a bunch of their own and college grads who do their best to try to spin the news to push their own agendas.
 
I started working for a company in Fort Wayne in 1982, that had 8,600 employees. When things starting changing there (again) after decades of change, I was able to transition to our manufacturing facility in Largo, FL in 2015 and eventually retire on my own terms.

When I came to Florida, the headcount in Fort Wayne was down to just 400. So watching the downsizing, rightsizing, terminations, firing, layoffs or whatever you want to call it of 8,200 people is unimaginable for most people.....so this little downsizing event at ISU is NOTHING compared to being involved in decades of that chaos.

Also in Fort Wayne, International Harvester closed almost overnight in 1983 leaving 12,000 employees without jobs. If those 20,000+ people survived those layoffs in Fort Wayne, and they did, these people will survive too. Time to move, nothing to see here.

Oh, and layoffs are driven by one thing BUDGETS, or in the case of major corporations it's Bookings, Sales and Profits....and it's leaderships job to step up to plate to make the necessary cuts, or there won't be a company (or college - reference what happened to St. Joseph's college in Renssselaer, IN) at all.
 
The biggest problem is that our major media outlets are all mostly based out of either NYC, DC, or LA, which are are arguably the 3 most liberal cities in America. Even during the '84 Reagan landslide NYC and DC voted Democrat. Those places have always been extremely liberal and always will be, it's just in their DNA. Unfortunately they hire a bunch of their own and college grads who do their best to try to spin the news to push their own agendas.
Did you notice when Trump was in office and they would say "the walls are closing in" and stuff like that? They would ALL say the exact , same words. They were obviously being told what to say by the deep state in DC.
 
Okay. So what would have done differently?? I know what I would have done differently. I want to know from someone on the inside - a long time Sycamore. What would have done differently to avoid this current situation?? Anyone can post an article… Give us your two cents. Don’t hold back.
I hope they also look at all the new programs and hires that were initiated by Curtis.
What favorable impact have they had?
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
I hope they also look at all the new programs and hires that were initiated by Curtis.
What favorable impact have they had?

the only new programs that resonate are the Engineering program (essentially an expansion of the existing Engineering Tech programs), the Unmanned Systems (drones) programs under the Aviation Tech department and the intel / security analysis program within the criminology department...

though I recall the Phys Asst or Phys Therapy programs... maybe a FNP program being added...

what programs were you speaking to?
 
the only new programs that resonate are the Engineering program (essentially an expansion of the existing Engineering Tech programs), the Unmanned Systems (drones) programs under the Aviation Tech department and the intel / security analysis program within the criminology department...

though I recall the Phys Asst or Phys Therapy programs... maybe a FNP program being added...

what programs were you speaking to?
We already have a Dept of Equal Opportunity & Title IX.
So we don’t really need an Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
 
We already have a Dept of Equal Opportunity & Title IX.
So we don’t really need an Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

I think you could argue you absolutely shouldn't be adding any management layers if you are having problems getting students in the door.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WOZ

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
We already have a Dept of Equal Opportunity & Title IX.
So we don’t really need an Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

ISU website looks like they share everything... office space, phone ##, etc

I'd venture the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is a federal grant -- maybe a matching one, you know the salary?

My org got $1M+ last year to "develop DIEA programs... though there has long been an EEO office
 
Last edited:
true -- unless part of that office is to recruit "underserved" communities

The school is literally called "Little Chicago" by a lot of students and has been for a long time. Tanner used to joke about it and he's been gone for several years. Our Pell Grant numbers also tell me that is definitely not needed.
 
The school is literally called "Little Chicago" by a lot of students and has been for a long time. Tanner used to joke about it and he's been gone for several years. Our Pell Grant numbers also tell me that is definitely not needed.

I'm not defending it -- just trying to understand it

and from what little DEIA material i've been presented... you can "discover" many "underserved communities"
 
Back
Top