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NEWS

Greensboro College cuts 10 positions

Thursday, July 23, 2009
(Updated Friday, July 24 - 12:11 am)
By Joe Killian
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — Greensboro College will lay off seven full-time and three part-time faculty and staff members, the school announced Thursday. The college did not announce which positions would be eliminated.

The regular part-time faculty salary budget will be eliminated, faculty course loads will increase and compensation for overloaded classes will be done away with, according to a news release.

The moves will help create a “practical budget” for 2009-10 and also allow for half of the 20 percent salary cut announced in April to be reinstated, the release said.

“It should go without saying that we are deeply saddened that any of these reductions were needed,” Robert Stout, chairman of the school’s board of trustees, said. “However, these steps allow us to move toward full recovery and assisted in the development of a realistic budget.”

The 171-year-old Methodist affiliated school has been facing serious financial problems for months. A debt load of more than $19 million has led the school to put up its campus and most of its $17 million endowment as collateral to Bank of America, according to school officials. The bank has extended the college’s credit line, allowing it to make payroll.

In the past two years, the college borrowed about $3.5 million from its endowment, and the fund was battered in the downturn.

The school is restructuring with help from the Charlotte-based NaviscentGroup. The school also is searching for an interim president, following the retirement of longtime President Craven Williams.

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Staff photo (News & Record)

Photo Caption: The campus of Greensboro College.

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ZhaK

July 23, 2009 - 6:43 pm EDT

Too bad Elmer Gantry isn't around to explain to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools how their Quality Enhancement Plan which moved them from a 3x5 to a 4x4 model somehow has been implemented as a 3x3 and now is a 4x3 model so soon after their last accreditation.

From the QEP Final Plan page 3

"For its Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Greensboro College proposes to revise its curriculum
from a three-credit course model, in which a student typically takes five three-credit courses per
semester (a “3x5” model), to a four-credit model, in which a student typically takes four fourcredit
courses per semester (a “4x4” model). Under the College's current 3x5 model, most
faculty members typically teach four three-credit courses per semester; under the proposed 4x4
model, that typical teaching load would become three four-credit courses."

http://www.greensborocollege.edu/faculty/upload/QEPPlanfinal.PDF

rodin

July 23, 2009 - 11:19 pm EDT

First of all, I wish those ten people who were laid off the absolute best.

As for your observations ZhaK, oh my gosh and stop the presses. I understand the point you are trying to make, but these are challenging times. Also today, UNCG and A&T announced a combined 111 layoffs or probable layoffs.

http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/07/23/article/uncg_releases_prop...

Somehow your concerns about having to teach another course or two seem a bit petty in comparison don't you think? Yeah, you are no doubt underpaid and overworked. So am I. So is the person next to me where I work.

I hope that things improve for everyone everywhere, even you, despite the fact that you seem to be more of whiner than a realist.

ZhaK

July 24, 2009 - 9:27 am EDT

Oh is this funny! You think I am faculty at Greensboro College! That's a hoot in the holler.

The QEP is like so many other programs and activities at GC; it exists on paper in someone's desk drawer. Elmer has been doing this for years. "I raised X dollars. See? It's written down right here." Donations tied to specific events, clubs, activities? Where is the data that shows a measurable intended effect? Style utterly without substance.

GC92

July 24, 2009 - 7:31 am EDT

Seems you might have misunderstood the change. Courses are still 4 hours. Faculty will now have to teach 4 classes one semester and 3 the next (or 3 then 4). So the workload is now 7 classes per academic year instead of 6. I don't think that's exactly overworking anyone.

ZhaK

July 24, 2009 - 9:52 am EDT

Believe me, there is every chance that I misunderstood the change; I thank you for pointing this out. I do notice that this article has been revised since it was first put up yesterday to eliminate the 3-3, 3-4 part. As well, yesterday it was a 'staff report' and now the by-line is Joe Killian. Joe, clarification?

Frankly I don't think that the faculty is overworked but then this isn't exactly a research intensive institution. Take a look at the tenure requirements-- terminal degree in a related field plus teaching 6 hours per semester (or teaching load equivalent for someone with administrative responsibility). How about publishing requirements? Where is the academic rigor? Furtherance of the academic field of endeavor?

Joekillian

July 24, 2009 - 1:23 pm EDT

Zhak:

We got a late press release from GC on this after they had closed for the day and no one was available to talk to us about it, clarify language, etc.

This is just terrible media policy, but we see it happen a lot when people are doing releases for things they don't want to talk about.

The initial thing that went up was just a brief with a lot of verbatim language from the release. The release didn't EXPLAIN the additional courses so much as it briefly mentioned them in that 3-3-, 3-4 language that the average reader was unlikely to completely understand.

Since we didn't want to confuse readers and couldn't get anyone at the college to clarify or answer any questions about it I wrote this short piece that stated simply that course loads would be increased (which is true, not as specific as I'd like but easier for the average person to understand).

Unfortunately, I was in the middle of finishing the UNCG/A&T budget proposal when GC made the release, so I had to write it for the print edition (it ended up on A10 because it was such a late addition) and change it online when I could get to it, which I think was around 9 p.m.

Sorry for any confusion. We'll certainly be following it further.

Joekillian

July 24, 2009 - 1:27 pm EDT

To another point in your post, Zhak -- I worked with another reporter on a GC piece for this Sunday and what we found was that many on the faculty and among the student body come to GC specifically because the professors aren't pressured to do research or to publish but concentrate primarily on teaching.

Whether that's good or bad is up to you, I guess -- but it is, apparently, a cultural choice rather than an accident. A number of the professors said they'd rather have smaller class sizes, more involvement with students and more time in the classroom than deal with any other concerns. GC seems happy to have them do that as well.

jrfields

July 24, 2009 - 1:59 pm EDT

Joe, Do you have any idea from which departments these cuts were made? I know that the Press Release didn't name any specific persons or department.

Joekillian

July 24, 2009 - 3:42 pm EDT

I have heard from a few reliable sources - including a laid-off professor - that the school's music department was hit hard, but I've yet to confirm anything from the school itself.

jrfields

July 24, 2009 - 9:33 pm EDT

I actually spoke to a laid off professor today as well, and I can confirm that the Fine Arts Dept was hit VERY hard.

ZhaK

July 24, 2009 - 4:28 pm EDT

This is substantiated in the Chronicle for Higher Ed institutional statistics for 2008 where Greensboro College faculty self-reported as having very high satisfaction for institutional recognition of innovative and high-quality teaching (which is not the same as learning). Greensboro College did allow for more accessible teacher-student relationships with small class sizes which allows less ambitious and/or less motivated students increased contact with the teacher. These students would be more likely to become disengaged in a larger classroom.

This is not so hot for the faculty in that it doesn't provide opportunities to progress in the majority of the activities of a professor which include research, scholarship, university governance, service and (of course) publishing. I feel for the professors that will find themselves out of a job with lightweight CVs.

Rubia

July 25, 2009 - 9:12 am EDT

I appreciate this comment very much, Mr. Killian. I have been a student and employee of several academic institutions, from a midwestern "Ivy" to mega-sized research institutions, and our GC faculty compare more than favorably to the faculty of those institutions. Remember that one of the Chronicle articles began with the statement that GC professors "give their students their cell phone numbers." They also know their students' names beginning with the first class meeting. They know and love their disciplines and make a huge effort to find innovative ways to help their students learn.

ZhaK

July 24, 2009 - 4:06 pm EDT

Thank you for explaining, Joe. I hope you are successful in getting direct and accurate information from all the schools in the area. I think your readers would be able to better understand and make choices if these agencies were more forthcoming with substance and less interested in saving face.

Joekillian

July 24, 2009 - 5:01 pm EDT

Thanks.

I sometimes feel as if I'm not as successful at it as I'd like.

But we keep at it.

nonsubscriber

July 24, 2009 - 10:33 pm EDT

I love reading the News & Record online. I get what I pay for. The blogs are worth their weight in gold.

wolfpackgrad

July 23, 2009 - 7:21 pm EDT

Who of us in the real world didn't see this coming? I wonder if all those Williams supporters will find a way to help the newly unemployed?

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