We are all in crisis. COVID-19 has initiated an economic and health crisis that affects Northern Arizona University and wider community in drastic ways. How can NAU contribute the most good possible to students, university employees, community members, and the region and state at large? So much depends on how we understand and respond to our present difficulties.
 
Actively distinguishing between the current crisis and future challenges is fundamental. Unfortunately, NAU’s administration has not yet disentangled present crisis from future challenges. Instead, they argue that NAU will need downsizing in the next 10 years, and seek to use COVID-19 to make cuts today that may or may not be needed years down the road.
 
The NAU administration should be taking creative short-term measures to deal with the current crisis that leave the University in a strong position. Tomorrow's challenges are just that: tomorrow's. Working today to avoid layoffs and harmful working conditions means doing our part to aid in the recovery of Flagstaff, Northern Arizona, and the state as a whole.
 
Alarmingly, President Cheng and Provost Stearns have issued a directive to units to prepare for 20-25% budget cuts for the entire university. This translates to mass layoffs: as many as 300 full-time jobs lost—and with those, 300 families deprived of healthcare during a global pandemic and the economic health of the region punched in the gut just as recovery is beginning. Those who remain will be vastly overextended, harming student success and threatening NAU's long-term viability.
 
As faculty, graduate student employees, staff, students, and community members, we are deeply concerned that President Cheng and Provost Stearns have not yet disentangled long-term planning from short-term crisis responses. We urge the Arizona Board of Regents to consider the following consequences of overreach, and overly dramatic action by NAU’s administration:
 
- Compared to many short-term solutions (furlough, temporary salary reductions, etc.), a cutback in workforce is permanent. Dramatic cuts in a relatively stable, full-time public sector workforce is likely to begin a downward spiral: students leave when they can take only big classes and class offerings are limited. Every student who leaves means more revenue loss and greater difficulty for NAU to afford what students want—smaller class sizes and strong teachers. Such a downward spiral threatens the long-term sustainability of NAU as a whole.
 
- A significant portion of Flagstaff’s economy depends on NAU. The economic damage caused by a permanent loss in residents—fewer faculty and fewer students—means a far slower recovery for Northern Arizona as a whole, or no recovery at all, from the developing economic crisis. Collectively, our goal is to see an economic recovery in Flagstaff from the COVID-19 pandemic, not a long-term depression exacerbated by hasty and opportunistic cuts.
 
- Reducing workforce and increasing class sizes contradict each other. Decisions to impact Arizona’s education for years to come should not be made without a carefully established base of evidence. Establishing that base means disentangling the present crisis from plans for flourishing in the more competitive university ecosystem of the future. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to rebuild a reputable university once dismantled.
 
We ask the Board of Regents to direct President Cheng and Provost Stearns to focus COVID-19 responses on (a) maintaining NAU employees in their present positions to the fullest extent possible by (b) transparently differentiating responses to the current crisis from long-term plans to meet and succeed with the challenge of changing college demographics. The former means no layoffs in the present moment—instead pursuing creative short-term budgeting solutions. The latter means transparency in budgeting and planning, and clear and separate strategies for responding to the COVID-19 crisis and for growing through the future challenge.
 
NAU's, Flagstaff's, the Northern Arizona region's, and the state of Arizona's health demands temperance and restraint in responses to the present crisis. The crisis presented by COVID-19 is frightening but also by its nature temporary. Overly dramatic reactions will deeply harm the university’s, region’s, and state’s long-term prospects for recovery, growth, and a good quality of life for all. Responding to COVID-19 by conflating the present crisis with projected future challenges jeopardizes the bright future of our students, our community, and our state.
 
Thank you for working with us to keep NAU, Flagstaff, and the Northern Arizona region strong!
 
***If, in addition to signing this petition, you would like to write to the Arizona Board of Regents directly, we encourage you to do so at https://www.azregents.edu/contact-us. If you would like help drafting your own letter or want to talk about labor conditions at NAU—whether staff, faculty, or graduate student employees—please contact us via https://www.uunaaft.org/.