Leaders of an organization representing faculty and graduate students on Wednesday said they had “no confidence in the vision for the university” following this week’s announcement of major academic restructuring and departmental closures.
Aaron Schneider, a DU professor and co-president of the campus’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said he consulted with the 140-member organization after the university announced plans Tuesday to close departments and merge schools.
He said faculty members expressed feeling unheard and misrepresented.
“They have undertaken major restructuring and cuts done without meaningful faculty input and basic principles of shared governance,” Schneider said. “After a year of meetings, reports, studies, in which faculty came to the table in good faith, the chancellor, provost and Board of Trustees made decisions often different from what the faculty had advised.”
DU spokesperson Jon Stone said in a statement that dozens of faculty members engaged in the committees that prepared restructuring recommendations and hundreds took part in listening sessions over the last year. He noted that DU’s “is the official and appropriate faculty elected body to speak on behalf of the university’s faculty.”
“While we understand that not everyone might agree with the decisions announced, there was extensive work completed with our faculty and staff community that led to these outcomes,” Stone said. “Further, these decisions, as clearly outlined in the announcement materials, are about addressing market challenges, leaning into the university’s strengths, advancing an outstanding student experience, and ensuring DU’s long-term success.”
On Tuesday, DU administrators announced they will close the and departments, and that faculty within three others — ; ; and — had voted to close their departments.
The university is also merging the the with the . And the will join with the and the
The restructuring, DU officials said, will aid in interdisciplinary learning and breaking down campus siloes.
“Department closures, that kind of thing that impacts our ability to retain faculty and staff, is heartbreaking,” Sarah Watamura, DU Faculty Senate president, told The Denver Post in an interview Tuesday as the campus announced the changes. “And yet, I think we have to adjust like schools all over the country to the demands that we’re facing.”
DU leaders said the closures will eliminate an unspecified number of jobs. The university acknowledged this week that about 9% of its faculty “voluntarily chose to conclude their service” through buyouts, part of cost-cutting efforts to eliminate a $20 million to $30 million budget shortfall.
Senior administrators said DU will operate under a balanced budget in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Schneider, co-president of DU’s AAUP chapter, noted that faculty voted “no confidence” in Chancellor Jeremy Haefner last year.
“A year later, and major cuts and restructuring occurred without any reasonable academic vision for the university, by a leader who has already shown he has no confidence from the people who study and work at the university,” Schneider said. “The only vision they appear to have is a financial one — expand the endowment and properties of the university at any cost.”
Schneider also noted DU bought the Cable Center building for $20 million “in the midst of a budget crisis.” University officials announced the deal at the beginning of this year, saying they were purchasing the building on Buchtel Boulevard at the north end of DU’s main campus to become a welcome center for prospective students and visitors, as well as an event and rental space.
“They put $20 million toward a depreciating asset in a deficit budget year that needs substantive remodeling to meet its stated goal of being the ‘face’ of the university for prospective students,” Schneider said.
Furthermore, he said, DU has frozen faculty and staff wages for the next two years as the school on the salaries of the chancellor and senior administration. Full-time staff who “support the student experience” are taking on second and third jobs to keep up with the cost of living, he said.
“Still, I’m hopeful,” Schneider said. “We have an amazing faculty dedicated to students, knowledge and the civic role of higher ed. We have frontline staff who are dedicated to students and choose to work at a university because they love higher ed. We have curious and smart students who want to learn. Despite the mismanagement of the upper administration and the Board of Trustees, we will continue to be a first-rate university.”
