just what does a retrenchment notification look like?

I am sorry that my posts have been minimal over this past week.  It’s the end of the semester here in universityland and I have been trying to catch up on my grading and end of the semester work.  The bulk of my “free” time has been spent getting the Raging Chicken Press site up and running (participation still welcome!  looking for writers!).

As XChange readers will know, last week APSCUF Presidents at the 14 state universities (PASSHE) received notification that university presidents will be pursuing another round of retrenchment this coming year.  In other words, we will be looking at more faculty jobs lost, programs cut, and services limited.  Once again, Corbett’s budget cuts are the motivating factor here, although I suspect that PASSHE will be using “crisis” to reorganize state universities with or without a real budgetary shortfall.

Most of us don’t ever see one of these “intent to retrench” notices, so I thought I would share it here.  Here is a copy of KU President Cevallos’s “intent to retrench” memo sent to APSCUF-KU president Paul Quinn last week:

Cevallos Retrenchment Letter

I would also like to remind all readers of the XChange that we will be forced to say good-bye to six (6) faculty members as a result of KU administration’s previous round of retrenchment.  We will also say good-bye to the Advising Center, the Theater major, the Nursing program, and the Early Learning Center.  We’ve also just learned that the KU administration has not renewed the contract of one of our coaches who was active in getting PASSHE coaches their first union contract.  Assistant Coach for Women’s basketball, Steve Hahn, is the latest casualty of the adminstration’s budget ax.

At this point, no one is safe and the administration has refused to provide a specific articulation of its priorities and goals, which would presumably be used in any coherent retrenchment plan.  Instead, we continue to get nothing but empty generalizations that you could find on any university web site in any state in the country.

I’m keeping my eye out for rats leaving the ship.