DALLAS TWP. — It may be a bucolic campus in a quiet part of Back Mountain, but Misericordia University is suffering a sizable shake-up amid the COVID-19 pandemic, sparking push back from faculty amid suspension of tenure last month and faculty layoffs announced Tuesday.
Shortly after the pandemic hit Pennsylvania and prompted the closing of schools and institutions of higher education in March, Misericordia announced furloughs and layoffs in the waning months of departing President Tom Botzman. Last month the Board of Trustees voted to temporarily suspend the awarding of tenure and freeze hiring of new tenure-track positions until a study could be done on how best to move forward.
Rumors of faculty layoffs quickly developed. The changes prompted creation of a website, nomercyatmis.wordpress.com, with posts voicing frustration, disappointment and fear.
“I have never stopped mourning the deteriorating soul of MU,” one said. “There is no mercy for staff and faculty who have been terminated,” another wrote. Negotiations went on eight months with administration “concealing from us that the tenure system … is under fire.”
Fears became reality Tuesday when University Interim President Kathleen Owens issued a statement that “10 faculty members have been notified that we will not be renewing their contracts.
“While last spring and summer saw furloughs and layoffs affecting our staff colleagues, these are the first such actions in over 30 years affecting our faculty members,” Owens wrote. “This announcement comes at a particularly tender time for our faculty community.”
She noted the announcement two weeks ago regarding tenure, adding that “faculty members in their sixth year remain eligible for promotion in rank and salary increase.
“Our faculty are the embodiment of Misericordia’s mission, and it pains all of us that such decisions — while necessary — may seem to conflict with our core values of mercy and justice. Please know that these are not decisions we made lightly. They are decisions we are called to make as stewards of the university.”
Posting on the nomercy website disagreed.
“We have been assured that the institution has enjoyed financial success over the last several years,” one post said. “In fact, we have run surpluses. As the result of a global pandemic we have been asked to make sacrifices, learn new skills and take health risks for the good of the university. We have administrators who make twice what some faculty make, despite the fact that they are under-qualified for their positions and did not even pass through national searches.
Owens’ note addressed the financial issue. “As I have shared candidly at recent university-wide meetings, our financial footing is steady, but the ground on which our footing rests — the broader educational landscape — is challenged and unpredictable.
“Colleges and universities are enacting such measures in anticipation of a re-shaped, post-COVID-19 environment; these challenges are expected to be even more acutely felt among Catholic institutions.”
The executive committee of Misericordia’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors sent a statement to the Times Leader questioning the manner and timing of the cuts, echoing comments made on the nomercy website.
“No other cost saving measures were considered, even though faculty offered a salary reduction,” the statement said. “no administrators were cut. We have seven vice presidents, only one of whom went through a national search, and the administration refused to consider a salary cut for themselves, as was done at many institutions nationally.”
The faculty posting on the nomercy site painted a grim future even before Tuesday’s announcement.
“I believe that the proposed faculty cuts and the suspension of tenure are over-reactions to the challenges posed by the pandemic, and that they will have a deeply negative effect on the University by firing or hurting some of our most talented and generous members of the faculty,” one wrote.
Suspension of tenure and other steps announced two weeks ago “will have a chilling effect on the myriad of university activities that rely on faculty-administration synergy,” a person identified as a senior faculty member wrote. “Fund raising, alumni relations, student recruitment, enrollment, Middle States Accreditation, program development, and operations of the academic programs will be severely impeded, if not paralyzed. A more informed process could have—and should have—occurred with the involvement of the Faculty Senate. The administration working in good-faith collaboration with the faculty could have brokered an alternative and effective plan.”
Owens’ letter argues otherwise. “As we effect such faculty changes, please know that we work diligently among the administrative team to creatively deploy our resources, ensuring we are minimizing the impact this announcement might have on our student’s experience. For example, we do not expect these most recent faculty reductions will limit our academic major and minor offerings.
“Moreover, it is my sincere hope that our entire Misericordia community will fully engage in the forthcoming strategic planning process designed to position the university for a thriving future.”
The retired president of Gwynedd Mercy University in Montgomery County, Owens was picked to serve as Misericordia president for the current academic year while a search is conducted to find a replacement for Tom Botzman, who left the post to accept the job as president at the University of Mount Union in Ohio.