Cornell College community split on necessity of cuts to programs, positions

As Cornell College students reel from recent news of cuts to academic programs and positions, the college’s president said he understands their feelings while also knowing that Cornell, like the liberal arts education that fuels it, must evolve.

Cornell College, a private institution located in Mount Vernon, announced to the campus community Nov. 21 that “major courses of study” in more than 10 areas will end after a review of student interest and enrollment. Impacted areas of study include classical studies, French and Francophone studies, German studies, religion, and bachelor’s of music in the general, performance and K-12 tracks.

Some students said they are unsure of their future with the college, as it feels like the education, community and values they found there are disappearing. Others are organizing around their concerns and seeking to increase their visibility on campus.

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President Jonathan Brand said the nearly 172-year-old college is always trying to rethink and revise itself in order to respond to the wants and needs of those it serves and be well-positioned for the future. However, the college is also operating at a $2 million budget deficit that Brand said will be gone within three years.

“We’re always looking at our programming, always,” Brand said. “We have to — have to pay attention to how the environment is changing, have to pay attention to what our students are telling us and what their families are telling us that they’re looking for in a college experience.”

In addition to the academic programs, eight faculty teaching positions are being eliminated, with those impacted retaining a year of salary and benefits “if they choose to remain in that role,” Cornell College Director of Communications Jill Hawk said in an email. Brand said there were also a number of staff impacted by reorganization at the college, many of whom took other roles in the institution. Four staff members in total are leaving.

Students impacted by the program changes will receive individual teach-out plans, the college previously stated.

Cuts hit students hard

Aslan Baker, a history and studio art major in his second year at Cornell, heard rumors of coming cuts before they were announced from his adviser. The adviser said Baker may notice some upset or on-edge faculty due to planned layoffs, but they believed they were safe. They weren’t.

Baker said he didn’t believe it at first, as the history department and others that saw cuts aren’t large and eliminated faculty have specialized knowledge.

“I just didn’t think they would do it, because it seems crazy to me — especially cutting religion and languages … ,” Baker said. “That seems like the basis of the whole liberal arts model to me.”

Anya Wendt, a second-year art major at Cornell, said she came to the college specifically for its liberal arts education. She and other students also prefer the college’s block schedule where students take one course at a time, each lasting 18 days.

Cornell College junior and sociology major Nick Alderman said he and other students concerned about these changes don’t want to lose the four pillars that make a Cornell College education a “really compelling package” — the block plan, small class sizes, liberal arts faculty and the fact that faculty teach the courses themselves.

“I’m just really disappointed in the higher boards … I feel like they don’t see what they’re doing to the college, and they’re so stuck on their idea that this was the right thing to do that they’re not seeing all the negative effects,” Wendt said.

Brand said the college is “committed” to the block system and the idea of being a “relationship-driven institution,” but he challenged the belief that Cornell is doing away with a liberal arts education. No one discipline can claim ownership of the liberal arts, he said, and the topics and areas of study under its umbrella have “been changing for a millennium now.”

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Reorganizing for a sustainable future

Conversations eventually leading to these actions began in June, Brand said, starting with a small group of faculty and members of the college’s board of trustees before holding sessions for all faculty and staff.

One proposal from faculty was to take alternative measures to discontinuing programs in efforts to save money, like having faculty take a pay cut or spreading monetary cuts across all programs equally, but Brand said it wouldn’t work out. The college has taken similar steps when cutting in the past, he said, but “what ends up happening afterwards is” certain departments, faculty and staff say they need more resources to complete their work and the cuts themselves don’t end up being balanced.

“It’s an attractive approach,” Brand said. “It’s just not always a strategic approach.”

The faculty council developed the criteria for determining which programs should be reduced or eliminated, Brand said, and “modestly revised” by Interim Provost Kathryn Kauper. That criteria included demonstrated student interest, cost of operation, contributions to overall curriculum and others.

Cornell is in “good” financial standing, Brand said, with its endowment growing and enrollment staying steady for now. While it is the middle of the fiscal year, Brand said the college is currently projecting a $2 million budget deficit. He said he doesn’t yet know how much money will come from the cuts in order to fill that gap, but the institution has “taken a lot of strong steps in that direction.”

“By the end of three years from now, we will have a balanced budget,” Brand said.

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Students not stepping down

“Confusion” and “chaos” spread across campus after the news came out, Wendt said, “especially with the lack of transparency behind everything.” Baker said students are upset but don’t know what to do about it.

After the “mixed” reaction from campus following the announcement, Brand said both he and Kauper have met with students, faculty and staff to discuss the cuts. Kauper also met with the college’s Student Senate to answer their questions.

Some Cornell College students have organized in response to all that has happened this past semester, creating a coalition, petition and online publication aimed at documenting and speaking out against program and position cuts announced by the college administration. The petition has received nearly 870 signatures.

Alderman and senior sociology major Hannah Koenighain criticized the student senate meeting, saying their biggest questions weren’t answered, if they got to be asked at all. Koenighain said she and other students have already written to the administration and board of trustees to express their frustration with the cuts and the process to make them, which they plan to continue.

The group wants to increase their “visibility on campus,” she said.

“It sounds like our next step is direct action,” Koenighain said.

Even though the history major at Cornell College will remain available for students, Baker said he’s not planning on sticking around to finish it out. He said he feels like history “doesn’t really have a future here” with faculty he was close to having to leave and the idea that hits to certain programs will “trickle down” to other areas of the college.

Wendt is more on the fence of whether she’ll transfer to another school or not, as she said she’s made friends at Cornell, she knows the campus and doesn’t want to abandon the college’s block plan. However, Colorado College has both the block plan and a Russian program she could major in, rather than pursue a minor.

“I feel like there’s going to be a big wave of just people wanting to transfer and just silently abandoning this place after all this,” Baker said.

This article was first published by Iowa Capital Dispatch.