UPDATE 2 (5/8/25): My communication with the Provost/VP of Academic Affairs, Dr. Beth Concepción, is ongoing. I was told a number of times that "cuts are coming across the board" (not only from CAS faculty), and to standby for more information once the REM proposal was unveiled. Well, the proposal came on Monday and announced the following programs are slated to be cut in this first draft:

--French

--Japanese

--Environmental Studies

--Global Cultural Studies (and it's emphasis tracks)

--International Relations

--Intercultural Communication

--Literature (minor retained)

--Philosophy (LC offerings retained)

--Physics

--Religious Studies (LC offerings retained)

--As well as a number of sensible proposals to combine degree tracks into broader majors

However, the proposal lacked any of the following information:

--A full list of faculty from cut majors who would be cut under this draft plan

--A list of faculty from combined majors who would be cut under this draft plan

--A budgetary breakdown of money saved from these cuts

--A full budget draft that showed where other cuts from across the university would be coming

This is unacceptable. If the University insists that cuts are coming "across the board," such as other areas of recent spending bloat as outlined below, they need to show their work. We are calling on university leadership to release this budget data immediately to prove that they are making meaningful cuts in ALL areas, not passing the buck on this budget crisis to CAS faculty. Until then we refuse to simply take them at their word--we were trained better than that at Linfield!

I will not release the full text of that exchange until I have allowed Dr. Concepción the space to reply to my most recent email. After the weekend (a reasonable amount of time, I think), and depending on what budgetary data is revealed between now and then, I plan to release the full text.

Finally, OPB is now covering ongoing events at Linfield: https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/07/linfield-university-mcminnville-oregon-higher-education-college-cuts-layoffs-budget/

UPDATE 1 (5/3/25): changed to reflect as much as 20% (21 positions) in CAS are at risk (not one-third) and that the idea to make calls to at-risk faculty was a suggestion, not a mandate. The rest of this article stands as-is without having been factually rebutted during my ongoing email conversation with VP of Academic Affairs, Dr. Beth Concepción. On Monday May 5th at 4 PM the first draft of budget cuts will be unveiled at Graf Auditorium. I encourage you to attend and make your thoughts on cuts to CAS faculty heard loud and clear.

ORIGINAL TEXT (5/2/25): Just when we thought it was safe to trust Linfield University leadership again, the administration has bypassed their own timeline for a balanced budget and, instead, prepared to make calls over the weekend to faculty whose positions are at risk of being cut. As much as 20% (21 positions) of the total faculty and staff of CAS is at risk, including (per an email sent to Linfield students this morning) entire degree programs. The Reorganization, Elimination, and Merger (REM) timeline created by University administration called for full cooperation with CAS leadership before debuting a first draft of proposed budget cuts on May 5th. Rather than honoring this timeline of their own making, University administration decided ambushing CAS faculty five days ahead of schedule would be a better idea.

The rationale for this apparent choice of course by the University is entirely unsubstantiated by the school’s own hiring and expenditure trends—despite a 146% increase in athletics full-time equivalent (FTE) positions over the last twelve years (13 to 32) and the loss of 18 FTE position in CAS over the same span, meaningful reduction in athletics hiring or expenditures is being considered to balance the University’s budget deficit. Similarly, despite a $3.2 million increase in student services expenditures and a reduction of $3.18 million in instruction expenditures over the same time period, no meaningful cuts to student services are being considered either. The University’s song-and-dance of “right-sizing” the budget grinds to a halt when confronted with the fact that these dramatic increases in athletics and administration spending have not, per Linfield’s own tracking, led to a proportional increase in enrollment.

If these strategies—cut CAS & instructional resources, spend more on athletics and student services—have not worked, what rational reason could the University have to double down? And, more existentially, what use is a balanced budget if it is achieved by cutting out the beating heart of what makes Linfield University such a special place? Further cuts to faculty and staff run the risk of destabilizing Linfield’s ability to provide the well-rounded, experiential, liberal arts education that the University repeatedly promises across their website, advertisements, and other promotional materials. Simply put: it is clear that University leadership has not taken the time to adequately consider the ramifications of this sudden and shocking heel turn, and that further consideration is needed to create a solution that will address spending bloat in the areas that it is actually occurring.

Join me in calling on Linfield University leadership to immediately pause this over-hasty, ill-thought-out plan to dramatically slash CAS faculty and staff and find a data-driven plan to balance the budget that will preserve the heart of what a Linfield University student experience is supposed to encapsulate.