by Jill Penn and Aimee Loiselle, Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education
On November 1, SFNDHE, a founding partner of HELU, hosted its first solo virtual forum. Lisa Levenstein (UNC-G) organized the event, and Karma Chávez (UT-A) moderated with WVU speakers Lisa DiBartolomeo (Russian Studies, Slavic & East European Studies) and Jessica Wilkerson (History).
Chávez asked what led to the current crisis of cuts. Wilkerson explained that WVU has undergone a 24% decline in state funding and a decline in enrollment. Yet, upper administration allocated finances to real estate, facilities, and high salaries for themselves. In May 2023, WVU administration contracted rpk GROUP, and in June, President E. Gordon Gee announced 35 layoffs, mostly staff. Roughly half the programs then had to complete an “academic portfolio review” (a new term working to validate the usual austerity cuts). The president stated 28 programs would be discontinued and 169 faculty laid off. Students rallied and alumni wrote letters, but the Board of Governors forged ahead. DiBartolomeo said changes were announced quickly without consideration for faculty who’d signed nine-year contracts through 2028. Their jobs were eliminated with entire departments.
The experience has highlighted the need to organize, even though coordinating faculty members can be difficult. Scholarly focus on academic niches means they don’t often notice larger crises until the lightning strikes their department. Even then, faculty can miss how fights are connected across a dispersed campus or statewide system.
West Virginia public employees don’t have collective bargaining rights, but they chartered an AFT chapter, West Virginia Campus Workers, which depends on graduate students. Having a union allowed campus workers to accomplish more than with the faculty senate alone. They wrote resolutions, organized with students, and took the fight into the public arena.
SFNDHE is a collective of educators who argue robust, inclusive higher education is a necessary foundation for a democratic and equitable society. SFNDHE organizes workshops and publishes pieces to bring attention to the crisis in higher education and provides toolkits to help people fight. If you have an idea for a forum or article, please contact us.