As Word of Layoffs Spreads, Western Illinois Faculty Members Brace for the Worst

When Western Illinois University announced on Thursday that it would lay off 24 faculty members, including seven with tenure, Kimberly J. Rice was not surprised to find her name on the layoff list.

As an assistant professor who is the most junior member of the political-science department, Rice knew her position could be on the chopping block.

But what gives pause to Rice and many observers is that the university’s Board of Trustees just awarded her tenure last month. On Thursday the same board voted to lay her off.

When asked for comment, a university spokeswoman referred to a news release that announced the layoff plan on Thursday.

The announcement, brought on by declining enrollment and inconsistent state funding, is the latest in a series of drastic setbacks for Western Illinois, which laid off faculty members, including two tenured professors (one of whom later had her position restored), during a state-budget deadlock that saw public colleges and universities in Illinois go two years without regular state funding. The state’s regional campuses, Western Illinois among them, bore the brunt of the budget crisis, with many laying off faculty and staff members.

In this week’s cuts, which also included two nonfaculty officials in academic affairs, Western Illinois announced that it would not fill an additional 62 teaching positions, which either are vacant or will be vacated due to retirements or resignations. The layoff notices give a one-year warning, as stipulated in the contract between Western Illinois and its employee union, the University Professionals of Illinois.

So in one sense, finding out that her job has a one-year expiration date wasn’t shocking to Rice.

She said she was surprised, however, that the university would lay off faculty members with tenure.

“To me, that signifies some shift in our understanding of what tenure will mean for higher education. It perhaps does not mean anymore that you have a guaranteed position,” Rice said. “That’s sad because we work very hard for tenure for many, many years — putting together portfolios, publishing, putting in service to our institution, making sure we’re good at teaching. You hope that tenure means that you have some safety and some stability, but it doesn’t mean that, apparently.”

Waiting for an Email

Susan Czechowski knows what Rice is talking about. In 2015, Czechowski, an art professor, was told she’d be laid off as part of the university’s first round of cuts.

Weeks later, Jack Thomas, president of Western Illinois, announced that tenured faculty members, including Czechowski, would be spared.

But Czechowski’s sense of unease remained. Nearly three years later, she said she spent Thursday staring at her email account, constantly hitting “Refresh” and hoping she didn’t see a layoff notice appear in her inbox.

She and her colleagues kept up a steady stream of texts as they awaited word from the administration: “Just checking in with you.” “Have you gotten anything?” “Worried about you, friend.” “Is everything OK with you?”

“That’s how I’ve spent the past 24 hours,” Czechowski said on Friday. “Afraid to pick up the phone because I don’t know if that next text I receive would be the one saying, ‘Here’s your letter,’ or a friend telling me that their position was eliminated.”

As it turned out, Czechowski didn’t receive a layoff message, meaning her job is safe.

For now, at least. Thomas said in Thursday’s news release that the university would announce a “realignment” in academic programs on July 16, and Czechowski fears her job may not be part of that vision.

Holly A. Stovall, a former women’s-studies professor, is wary of the July announcement, too. She was laid off in 2015 and appealed; her case is still being decided, though her contract expired in 2017.

“We’ve heard ‘alignment’ for a long time. Realignment, realignment, realignment,” Stovall said. “You realign tires, not human beings.”

Christopher Pynes, a professor of philosophy who will be chair of Western Illinois’s Faculty Senate in the fall and who previously served two years in the position, said he was surprised the announcement didn’t include more cuts.

William A. Thompson, a professor in the libraries division at Western Illinois and the union’s chair, said many faculty members worry about job security.

“I hear all the time that people are on the job market, they’re actively seeking employment elsewhere because there is a very unsettling feeling here,” Thompson said.

He said that layoffs had been conducted “in ways that people can’t predict.” Faculty members in departments with lower enrollments have escaped being laid off, he said, but professors in departments with more students have been let go.

“That uncertainty is not only about ‘Will I be the one laid off?’ but ‘Can the administration and the Board of Trustees stop this enrollment decline?’” Thompson said. “And we’re not certain they can.”

Correction (7/2/2018, 12:59 p.m.): This article originally misreported that more than 100 Western Illinois faculty members were laid off during the state’s budget crisis. There were layoffs, but the exact number is difficult to establish with certainty, as some announced layoffs were never carried out. The article has been updated to reflect this.

Correction (7/2/2018, 5:58 p.m.): This article originally misstated the positions of two people whose jobs were eliminated last week. They were two nonfaculty officials in academic affairs, not two student-affairs professionals. The article has been updated accordingly.