Students grill Greensboro College president on layoffs, budget cuts
GREENSBORO — The tension was palpable Thursday as students gathered in Greensboro College’s Finch Chapel to question President Craven Williams on recent layoffs and budget cuts.
The cuts, announced last week, were severe. All staff and faculty salaries were reduced 20 percent, and the school eliminated dental insurance and matching contributions to employee retirement plans. Eight full-time employees were laid off, including one faculty member. That brings the small private college’s teaching staff to 75.
“Our best intentions, determination and hard work cannot overcome what I have called 'the perfect financial storm’ we’re seeing in the country right now,” Williams told the students. “So, we have acted and taken a worst-case scenario approach to this because we see very little in the economy to be optimistic about.”
More than 100 students packed the small chapel, many of them angry about the layoffs and concerned about the college’s future. Among those laid off were the school’s only full-time French professor, Patti Burns, and a staff member who helps students with disabilities.
“It just broke my heart to see professor Burns go,” said Shane Haas, a student now taking a French class with Burns. “She was one of those professors where it wasn’t just a job for her. She teared up when she told us she’d been let go, and I just don’t know how there wasn’t some other way.”
Williams said adjunct professors will take over Burns’ classes next year and a minor in French will still be offered at the school. It was a tough decision, he said, but ultimately one the school had to make.
“I think I know more than anyone else what a challenge this is to the faculty and staff,” Williams said. “We have people who have small children, who just bought houses and cars. And they’re going to be making 20 percent less — that’s a lot of money.”
Williams pointed out that he would be taking the same 20 percent salary cut as everyone else, but he would not answer students’ questions about how much he makes. According to tax records, the college paid Williams $403,117 in 2007, the last year for which the information is available.
An anonymous letter circulated on campus Thursday erroneously stated that Williams recently “helped himself” to $1.6 million dollars from the college’s finances, which contributed to the school’s financial crisis. Many students carried copies of the two-page letter and demanded to know the truth. Tax records show the nearly $1.7 million payment, made in 2006, was actually salary Williams had deferred from 1998 to 2004 and which the school had agreed to repay.
Williams told students the anonymous letter hurt him deeply and was untrue. He would not discuss his personal salary, calling it “a private matter,” but said he has donated $104,000 to the college and plans to give more.
The real culprit, he said, was the economy. The school lost 40 percent of its endowment’s principle — about $1 million, Williams says — in the market upheaval on Wall Street last year. The school uses 4.5 percent of its endowment earnings for yearly operational fees. Reported gifts from alumni are also down nearly $1 million.
The school is not in danger of closing or losing its accreditation, Williams said, but drastic action was necessary to keep the institution, which is a nonprofit, on solid financial ground.
“You can’t wait until a crisis is upon you to get out of the way of it,” Williams said. “We have to act now.”
Among other actions the college is taking:
- The board of trustees has approved a 4.5 percent tuition increase. Tuition, fees, room and board is now $30,688 a year.
- Work will halt on the college’s new sports park unless donations are made specifically for that purpose.
- The school is increasing its need-based financial aid discount from 28 percent to 35 percent to help students cope with tuition increases.
Williams said he doesn’t think future cuts will be necessary but said he could not predict how much worse the economy might get.
“If the economy picks up again, we will be able to reinstate these things and these people we have lost,” Williams said. “But right now this is the reality.”
Staff writer Amanda Lehmert contributed to this story.
Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian @news-record.com
Accompanying Photos
Photo Caption: The campus of Greensboro College.
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