NDNU cuts degree programs: Private Belmont university facing money woes, faculty union upset

Undergraduate students will soon no longer be able to major in philosophy or theater arts and master’s degrees in English, musical performance and systems management will no longer be offered. Minors in French, dance and theater arts; as well as certifications in clinical gerontology are also on the chopping block.

NDNU President Judith Greig announced the cuts over summer, prompting the school’s newly-formed faculty union to file an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.

Earlier this year, NDNU became one of the first in the country to unionize tenured faculty at a private Catholic university and some professors now question whether the curriculum reductions were a move to undercut contract negotiations — which just began Monday.

“We’re in a really painful situation right now,” said Kim Tolley, faculty senate president and director of NDNU’s Master of Arts in Education program, who advocated for the unionization. “I suspect that it is [related to negotiations], just because the cuts are so draconian and so extensive. It’s just caused a lot of chaos among the faculty.”

As classes pick back up, Tolley said professors are now left having to inform some that their degrees are to be phased out. While a task force was formed to consider how to adapt to budgetary constraints, Tolley said the administration went well beyond faculty’s recommendations.

Professors will be given a “teach out” schedule and students will likely have the bare minimum amount of time to finish their degrees, Tolley said.

In her letter to faculty, Greig cited the school’s financial difficulties and significantly reduced student enrollment as the driver behind the cuts.

“NDNU has substantive issues to resolve. This requires sacrifice by all participants and clear alignment with our common objective of serving students with access to an excellent education,” Greig wrote.

Other reforms include laying off administration within its communications department; cutting its math lab, writing center and academic success center; and eliminating the women’s tennis program while adding men’s and women’s track and field. The school will also focus on “converting the NDNU Theater building into income” by either selling or finding ways to generate revenue. It may also relocate or do away with the Weigand Gallery, an arts exhibition space, according to the letter.

Greig was not available by phone, and instead emailed a statement that pruning course offerings to improve its budget would help the school continue to serve students.

“It is absolutely essential to the survival of Notre Dame de Namur University and our Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (SND) small private universities that serve the needs of so many modest income families and ethnically underserved students, that the university conserve its resources and limit its spending on courses and programs that are not expected to attract student enrollment,” Greig wrote.

Tolley said the cuts went beyond what a faculty task force recommended and came shortly after the faculty union sent a letter demanding the administration not make changes to working conditions before negotiations begun.

The faculty’s unionization under Service Employees International Union, or SEIU 1021, peaked in controversy earlier this year as opponents contended federal case law prohibits tenured faculty at private universities from forming collective bargaining units.

Greig and NDNU attorneys pointed to regulations preventing those with “managerial oversight” from unionizing. They indicated faculty committees such as those with influence on curriculum and hiring, would be at risk if the tenured professors unionized.

Greig, who initially urged the full-time faculty could jeopardize their shared governance role, eventually didn’t protest the unionization. She also supported the part-time faculty union.

NDNU thus became one of the first private Catholic universities in the country to unionize both tenured and part-time faculty in more than 30 years.

While not directly commenting on whether the cutbacks had anything to do with labor negotiations, Greig noted the school’s limited funds must be spent carefully.

“To remain in existence for the ‘service to others’ mission of the SND and to be able to properly pay wages and benefits to our students’ faculty instructors and our very hard working staff, we must apply our limited monies more to the programs that educate the greater number of students who choose to attend our particular university,” Greig wrote.

The negotiation process is just beginning to pick up and finalizing the critical “base” contract can vary greatly from taking a few months to years, said SEIU 1021 spokesman Carlos Rivera.

Bobby Vaughn, a tenured professor of anthropology and member of the union’s bargaining team, said they are negotiating terms such as salary, benefits and the faculty’s role in shared governance.

One of their main concerns with the recent curriculum cuts relates to the process, one Vaughn said wasn’t transparent or in custom with the school’s tradition of having faculty as well as the administration work collaboratively.

“There’s certainly a lot of faculty that are discouraged,” Vaughn said. “We’re on the cusp of union negotiations and this sort of I think sets a really bad tone in terms of the kind of unilateral heavy-handed decisions that the administration is engaging in now. I think it sets a negative tone for trying to forge a positive relationship between faculty, staff and the administration.”

samantha@smdailyjournal.com

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