On May 14, members of the Linfield administration held an open town hall for students to ask questions about upcoming budget cuts. Those in attendance included Vice President for Finance and Administration Mike Wenz, Vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success Gerado Ochoa, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Beth Concepción, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Leadership Council Andrew Bagget and Vice President of Student Affairs Jeff Mackay.
The consensus among students was that the town hall left students with more questions than answers, along with plenty of frustration.
A crowd of around a hundred packed into Jonasson Hall to watch a presentation by university administration and have a chance to ask their own questions. The crowd was so large that extra chairs had to be brought in, and the room was still standing room only.
Enrollment has been a long-standing issue in generating revenue, something Wenz highlighted.
“Since 2012, enrollment has declined 36%,” Wenz said. “Staffing levels have not declined considerably in that same amount of time.”
This decline in enrollment and the overestimation of actual enrollment is what has driven Linfield into a $4.9 million deficit. Cuts and changes have already been made within the schools of nursing and business, according to Wenz. As such, a plan to cut the budget within the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) was presented to faculty on May 5. Many of these cuts will result to the termination of “faculty lines”, or positions.
CAS faculty have until July 4 to present their feedback on the draft proposal. It was reiterated multiple times throughout the town hall that the draft proposed on May 5 was simply a draft and nothing about it was finalized. There are checkpoints during the CAS faculty feedback periods for new proposals to be sent out. The first round of feedback will end on May 23, with CAS faculty getting a revised proposal on May 30. June 13 will see another round of feedback end, and a new proposal on June 20, with final feedback due July 4.
Baggett added at the end of the town hall that CAS faculty will seek to send the proposal they create to Linfield students. Before the town hall, there was plenty of confusion between students and faculty whether the initial draft was allowed to be shared with students.
Although terminated staff and faculty will be notified in September, that won’t prevent students from finishing their programs.
“Whatever you’re enrolled in right now, you will be able to finish at Linfield,” Concepción said.
Mackay closed the presentation portion of the town hall by informing everyone about student representation on the academic and budget councils, and our voting members.
Students were quiet and respectful during the town hall, and a line formed quickly of students seeking to hear more about the program. Questions ranged from whether proportional cuts were being made to CAS compared to nursing and business to how cuts to programs will keep the unique feeling alive that made many students come to Linfield.
Students asked questions both in person and over Zoom.
An early theme from students was a desire for transparency in the process. One student asked if the initial draft presented to CAS faculty will be made available to students. This desire was to allow students to discuss their thoughts with faculty more effectively.
“We’re trying to keep it within faculty because of the rumor mill,” Concepción said. “It’s supposed to be contained within the faculty and not shared widely because it’s all in flux and still in that feedback phase.”
Concepción added that she was personally not comfortable with sharing it, but was not completely opposed to releasing it to the students. This didn’t answer questions if faculty could independently share the proposal.
Students expressed frustration with the administration throughout the entire talk.
“I found parts of this talk pretty frustrating and condescending,” Lizzie Arnold said. “You guys keep saying strong asset base, strong faculty, strong staff, you want to cut those people? The people that make a liberal arts education, that’s frustrating.”
A sense of distrust was also evident.
“How can we as students also feel confident that in the coming cuts that every other option has been exhausted,” Jack Burgess, a philosophy and wine studies double major, said. “How can we feel safe as students, how can we trust our best interests will remain at heart?”
Concepción responded by saying that the administration is working with faculty every step of the way.
“We’re gonna create the best proposal we possibly can,” Concepción said.
A desire to keep the extra and co-curricular programs was also expressed.
“Stuff like speech and debate, like choir, like theatre,” Clara Johansen, a senior communication arts major and vice president of the speech and debate team, said. “A lot of people in those departments and those co-curricular activities are really scared for that right now.”
There was no direct answer to the fate of those programs.
“It would seem like that, wouldn’t it,” Concepción said. “Because if you looked at it from a budgeting standpoint, art, music, theatre, those are all really expensive and if we were looking strictly from a budgeting standpoint then we could be on with our day.”
Concepción said these programs were essential to Linfield, and that they are taking into account how many people participate in co-curricular programs.
“I can’t imagine not going to see something like The Lightning Thief,” Concepción said. “Those are the things that people really enjoy about what is happening at Linfield.”
This response didn’t ease the fears that many had about co-curricular programs that they are a part of.
The potential cuts and reductions in language programs was also a point of concern.
“How might cuts to the programs such as Global Cultural Studies, International Relations and Intercultural Communication contribute to our social environment at Linfield and whether international students and students of color feel seen on a social level here,” Jemma Casem, a first-year creative arts major and theater minor, said.
This is something that the administration noted was very important. They added that just because a program may have low enrollment doesn’t mean it will be cut. Concepción added that she was excited to see other proposals that faculty came up with.
“We have to be incredibly careful about the things we cut,” Concepción said.
Other concerns were raised by a student over Zoom about how Linfield will preserve intercultural relations if minors like French and Japanese are cut.
“We will always have a commitment to being a globally minded campus,” Concepción said. “We have a commitment to students studying abroad, we have a commitment to international programs, we have a commitment to helping students understand that there is a world outside Oregon and a world outside the United States.”
A question submitted in the Zoom chat asked about retention rates and how they will impact future enrollment. Ochoa said that Linfield’s first-year retention rate is at 81% and is among the highest in Oregon. According to U.S News and World Report, that puts Linfield in fourth place among Oregon’s liberal arts colleges. Ochoa added that there have been efforts to boost retention, such as this year’s “Registration Race.”
“Part of that friendly competition was to get students registered,” Ochoa said. “If you get students registered before summer break, they are more likely to come back.”
Ethan Smith, a philosophy and creative writing double major, questioned why steps weren’t being taken to continue to operate under a budget deficit in the short-term to minimize a harsh correction.
“I don’t understand how buying a few more years of Linfield being able to make it more profitable, find more solutions that’ll make it so these staff will be able to make a salary for feeding and supporting their families and not being fired isn’t a viable option,” Smith said.
Wenz said that Linfield’s history of budgeting against enrollment trends and trying to grow out of the problem is why the budget deficit has gotten so high. He also added that getting high enrollment will only get harder down the road. Because of that, cuts need to happen right now, but that doesn’t mean it will be the only method used to correct the deficit.
“We really need to maintain discipline and an understanding that we are going to have to make much more difficult choices in a very short order if we don’t make very significant and important and very difficult decisions,” Wenz said. “These are my friends and my colleagues, but the reality of it is that budgeting on enrollment is really what’s put us in this position.”
However, Smith, echoing the sentiments of some students, pushed back. Instead, using more of the quasi-endowment, a fund that is easier for the university to access than the normal endowment. Wenz says the quasi-endowment has around $7 million left, and Smith said it could help lessen the blow for everyone.
“Having a few more years in order to work on this could mean instead of having super hard cuts immediately could allow a more smooth transition where you could open doorways to less hard decisions,” Smith said.
Wenz reaffirmed that the current approach allows for more flexibility as Linfield seeks to cut its budget deficit completely. If something bad were to happen, such as a steep decline in enrollment, it could result in less options being on the table in the future.
Baggett expressed optimism about Dr. Mark Blegen, the new university president, as he settles into his role and takes charge. He said that Blegen will make this conversation different, and help address concerns from students like Smith.
“[He] has had really good experiences at taking a university at whatever state they’re at,” Baggett said. “And doing these kinds of things to close a budget gap in the ways that are more palatable to everybody.”
In an interview published in February, Blegen said that he plans to meet with students and faculty to get a feel for the culture on campus. He also added that he plans to meet with the faculty senate.
“What I need to do with the team at Linfield, faculty, staff, students, is say ‘Hey what’s relevant, what do you want?’” Blegen said.
There were also some questions about why Linfield expanded when enrollment was declining, specifically with the purchase of the Portland campus and the new science building. Wenz responded by saying that the building of the science building was a process that had been going on for a long time. The Portland campus was a result of the cost to rent the old Portland campus being higher than purchasing a whole new one.
The rise in costs that are outside of academics was another area of skepticism from students. One student cited budget reports between 2016 and now that showed increases in things like student support, while academic spending remained the same. There were questions why cuts to faculty were being prioritized over bringing down non-academic spending.
Wenz cited changes in athletics programs, compliance costs for things like Title IX and increased marketing as to why those costs had gone up. For student support services, there were questions from students as to why that wasn’t being cut down.
“I am planning on making reductions to my staff,” Mackay said. “I am working through with my leadership team on ways to continue to try and support students but also at the same time try to reduce their costs.”
Mackay said he can’t exactly say what the cuts will be as he hasn’t told his employees what they are yet.
Administrators were also asked when the final budget proposal will be made publicly available. No hard date was given, however Wenz said that meetings going over the proposal won’t be until the fall.
The town hall closed with frustration from students over the tone taken by the administrators, especially Concepción, during the meeting.
“It is really kind of you guys to come here and speak to us,” freshman Julia Hutchinson said. “Ms. Concepción, thank you very much for speaking, but on behalf of all students, I’d kindly ask for some more sensitivity in your tone. It didn’t feel sensitive to the gravity of this issue. Essentially, I felt you were mocking the students for their fears of these cuts. I also understand the excitement of fixing our debt problem but to say you are ‘excited’ to see a plan that does genuinely scare students and weighs heavy on faculty’s hearts because they may be losing their jobs, it comes off as insensitive. These faculty, if I were in their shoes, it would feel like I’m hanging my own noose with writing my own REM plan.”
After the student finished, the room erupted into applause by students, the only show of collective response to a statement all night. This was the only time at the town hall that students clapped.
“I am so sorry, genuinely,” Concepción said. “I did not mean for it to come off like that at all.”
Concepción added that she is eternally optimistic, but the situation Linfield is in has made her emotional.
“I do not want to cut anyone,” Concepción said. “I don’t want to cut any programs, I don’t want to cut any staff, I don’t want to go through this process period. I know that we have to, and if we don’t, we’re going to be in a really bad situation down the road.”
As the town hall ended, many students seemed upset at the lack of clarity that they got.
“Students in the arts discipline are especially worried that their co-curricular activities are going to be cut first,” Johansen said. “Activities like speech and debate, choir, theater and art club are an essential part of a well-rounded university experience for these students, including myself. Cutting them would be taking away a large part of why students chose to attend Linfield. The provost, in her answer to my question, cited the activities I brought up as being extremely expensive and stated that ‘cutting them would look great on paper’. That only heightened my fears that these co-curriculars are going to be the first to go.”
While Concepción called co-curricular programs essential to Linfield, her answers did not ease the concerns of many students that are involved in these programs.
Towards the end of the town hall, there was some desire expressed to have future meetings with students. Mackay also encouraged students to reach out to their ASLU representatives on campus.
The town hall ran much longer than anticipated. The event was originally scheduled from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m, but ended up lasting an hour longer. Around twenty minutes before the end of the town hall, Mackay announced that they were running out of time. Immediately following the announcement, a large number of students left from the line and the seats.
Draft proposals are expected to circulate university administration and faculty until July 4. It is unknown how many, if any at all, will be available for students to read over.
