We condemn Lesley University’s brutal attack against Liberal Arts education and mass layoff of faculty teaching Liberal Arts curriculum.

At least 30 faculty received contract revocation/modification notices on October 4-5, 2023. Programs being eliminated include Political Science, Sociology and Social Change, Global Studies, and a Graduate Program in Photography. 

According to a reliable source,

• 22.22% of the core faculty union members have been terminated.
• 80% of the faculty members terminated are aged 50 and above.
• 43.33% of faculty members terminated are/were union stewards and openly critical of the Lesley administration.

Everything happened while the salary of President Janet Steinmayer increased from $257,642 in 2020 to $535,271 in 2022 despite enrollment drops and massive budget cuts for academic programs and student services.

We demand that the faculty members who have received the notification of contract revocation/modification are treated with respect and dignity, are reassigned to comparable positions – if desired - according to their preferences, and receive a competitive severance package.

We are concerned about:

Top-down Decision-making and Severe Lack of Collaboration

• Contrary to the claim of the President and the Provost of reaching out to 100 management faculty and staff to strategize about the drastic downsizing of the university, which they ironically named “Better Lesley,” most of the Chairs, Deans, and management faculty had little to no idea about which programs will be cut and which faculty members will be let go.
• All the decisions were made in the absence of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and with consistent turnover in marketing and admissions leadership.

Systemic Erasure of Liberal Arts Programs

• An email from President Janet Steinmayer and Provost Deanna Yameen sent to the Lesley community members stated that they decided to “restructure low-enrolled programs and those not core to Lesley.” How can a university that claims excellence in teaching educators, mental health professionals, and artists consider Liberal Arts programs, such as Political Science, Sociology, or Global Studies, not as “core” to its mission? How can a university properly train educators, counselors, or social workers without teaching them about the role of social and political institutions and structures and how power operates within and across nations?
• Low enrollments are often the result of institutional disproportionate priorities. Some Liberal Arts programs at Lesley remained low-enrolled not because these programs did not teach valuable critical thoughts and skills but because of top-down administrative decisions without faculty input, budget cuts, and lack of institutional care for students and other community members.
• The administrative leadership has starved certain Liberal Arts programs, cut classes, and combined many majors into one capstone and combined internship classes for many majors, resulting in lesser attention and resources for each major. With every administrative cut each year, faculty received more and more requests from students for letters of recommendation for transferring, significantly hurting the retention of current students. 

Financial Prioritization of Non-liberal Arts and Professional Programs

• In various communications, the President and the Provost repeatedly prioritized the institution’s goal of training students for some “critically needed professions” in the field of education, mental health, and the arts in the country. This hyper-focus on professionalization with a blatant disregard for a critical understanding of politics, society, and global institutions and processes echoes the neoliberal turn in higher education that prioritizes the acquisition of marketable skills, and trains model neoliberal citizens who will sustain rather than dismantle intersecting systems of oppression (Brown 2005; Dean 2019).

Hypocrisy of President Janet Steinmayer and the Board of Trustees

• This is happening while the salary of President Janet Steinmayer increased from $257,642 in 2020 to $535,271 in 2022 despite enrollment drops and massive budget cuts for academic programs and student services.
• The President’s salary more than doubled at a time when at least 15-20% of core faculty members will lose their current jobs and means to pay their bills and support their families. Many of these core faculty members are at a stage in their careers where it will be extremely difficult to find comparable employment opportunities.
• The lack of care for students, staff, and faculty led to two votes of no confidence for President Janet Steinmayer and one for the Board of Trustees who the President was a part of and now enjoys their full protection and support.

Evidence of disrespectful and discriminatory treatment of faculty who got laid off

• The selective cuts also warrant concerns about possible retaliation against critical voices and ageism. 80% of the faculty members terminated are age 50 and above. 43.33% of faculty members terminated are/were union stewards and openly critical of the Lesley administration.
• Even though the provost claimed to be focused on taking care of faculty members “as they transition out of the university,” the process has been extremely confusing and questionable.
• Students were informed of their program cuts before faculty were informed about their potential job losses. One faculty reported that they received an email only asking them to schedule an emergency appointment with the Provost via Zoom by the next day. When they went to teach a class the same day, students asked the faculty why their major was being discontinued. The faculty learned about their program and their position being cut not from the administration but from the students.

We demand Lesley University to stop this draconian attack against Liberal Arts education and treat faculty members with dignity and respect.

- Concerned educators, students, alumni, and community members

 

MORE INFO:

Follow @justiceforlesleyu on Instagram for updates.

UPDATES

Students bust President Steinmayer’s myths

NEWS COVERAGE

Boston Globe:

Lesley University students, professors protest mass layoff of liberal arts faculty

Lesley University is laying off faculty members, cutting programs amid budget crunch

Harvard Crimson:

How Lesley University Descended Into Crisis

Cambridge Day:

Lesley University reveals programs it is cutting, saying 98% of student body will be unaffected

Protestors at Lesley question if its path forward was mapped out fairly or will be worth following

Lesley restructuring will cut four programs, refocusing on education, mental health, arts

Higher Ed Dive:

Lesley University to lay off faculty as it phases out 4 degrees

Lesley Public Post:

Lesley Community Members Protest Faculty Layoffs and Program Cuts