CLARION, Pa.(EYT) – Clarion University Provost Ronald Nowaczyk (pictured left) describes the recently released workforce plan that calls for the elimination of 54 positions throughout the university over the next two years as a “worst case scenario.”
All will probably agree that the leadership team was able to come up with a worst came scenario, but many different reactions to the plan have surfaced as well as questions about its implementation.
The plan that was released on Thursday, August 15, that also calls for the elimination of music education, French and German, and other positions throughout the university by 2015 has witnessed the development of several petitions to stop the actions.
Nowaczyk said discussions are starting with department chairs as to the best way to implement the plan and how to still provide student support.
“We had to give the worse case scenario because President Whitney has said she only wanted to do this once,” said Nowaczyk. “If we had to do this, this is what we would do, but now we’re going to look at it and take a look at the students. We want to see how we can plan for the student’s schedules and what we can do. – How many faculty do we really need to cover the courses we will be offering?”
Clarion targeted the Music Education Program, French and German, and the entire Academic Enrichment Program because of declines in enrollment.
“All of the programs and positions continue this year,” said Nowaczyk. “There’s no one losing their job in terms of teaching this year. They’ll all be here for the entire year teaching. Music could be a different situation, and we’ll sit down and look at it.”
“We do know, when you think of a $12 million deficit and really only one major program, music education is only being impacted. We looked at the numbers, and the number of students currently in both the languages, German and French, and also music education is 35 students, and that’s freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. There are 14 seniors that we presume will graduate this year. When you include seniors, that’s 49 students, less than one half of one percent of the student body. We’re going to be working on how the 35 can meet their career goals.”
Clarion APSCUF (Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties) is objecting to the retrenchment of faculty.
“Obviously we want to fight against any retrenchment of faculty,” said Elizabeth MacDaniel, president of Clarion-APSCUF (pictured on right). “I recognize that there is a problem in terms of budget and the serious cuts in state funding to state schools, and of course our dropping enrollment hasn’t helped matters either.”
The workforce plan started in earnest in April when administration looked at projected enrollment and budgets and a realization, according to Nowaczyk. It became clear that Clarion would be facing a financial situation that would cause serious problems down the road.
Three areas are looked at in the plan.
• A serious drop in enrollment. While it may not be unique in western Pennsylvania because of a drop in the number of graduating high school students, Clarion projects an additional nine percent drop for the 2013-14 academic year after two straight years of decreases.
• State funding has remained level for the last two years, but funding took significant cuts when Governor Tom Corbett came into office, according to Nowaczyk.
• Rising costs.
“Any university is really a service organization, much of what they do is personnel costs,” said Nowaczyk. “In this workforce plan, we’re even talking about reducing some of our operating budget, but if we eliminated much of the operating budgets in the colleges, it wouldn’t have enough money to cover the deficit that we see coming up.”
Discussions continue about how best to implement the program and many questions remain.
“APSCUF had only met with the administration last Thursday when we got the workforce plan,” said MacDaniel. “We asked about details and how are you going to implement this and what are your ideas. The Provost’s answer was he didn’t know. That seems to be the answer we were given by the dean, too. They seem to have created a plan that has a basic outline or structure, but we haven’t got any answers about implementing it, yet. They are threatening to get rid of 22 faculty and the other staff and administrative jobs. It seems like it is bringing the cart before the horse in terms of getting rid of people.”
“They are presenting it as a plan, but then the president said in a meeting last Thursday with all of the bargaining unit people that it was a 95 to 98 percent done deal. We’re left to think it is going to be this way because the president decides, but there are so many problems in implementing it.”
Meetings and discussions may have already spotlighted unintended consequences and problems in implementation.
MacDaniel pointed to decisions furloughing positions in departments would prevent the university from hiring any temporary part-time help for three years. A planned furlough at Venango College in nursing may prevent the hiring of any temporaries, necessary for the department’s continued operation. A similar situation may exist in other departments, especially with personnel that are assigned at Clarion but teach at Venango.
Things Could Change
Despite the moratorium on music education and the possible elimination of six of the seven current music faculty, a general education requirement for a music class for all students will continue. Nowaczyk said music faculty proposed a degree in music entrepreneurship but couldn’t confirm that any of the proposed programs will actually come into existence. He did add that if new programs come into existence, positions would be reevaluated.
The marching band will continue and Nowaczyk said the director position was a faculty position, but it didn’t necessarily have to be a music faculty position. It could be a regular teaching load or part of student activities.
“We’re going to have to those discussion to see what we can and cannot afford, what the needs are, what is the demand from students,” said Nowaczyk. “We know that a lot of students participate in marching band that are not in music, so we want to provide those services, and this is the time to have those discussions. The question has come up – ‘Are you eliminating marching band?’ At this point, no. We’re not eliminating marching band.”
A marching band can also bring up questions about a football team, but the entire athletics program is under review, and discussions are being held about a tiered athletic team system where certain sports are valued more than others and receive the bulk of the funding. Any tiered plan would also need to factor in gender representation.
Even the addition of Chinese to language courses remains as a proposal.
“I don’t know if we’ll establish a program in Chinese,” said Nowaczyk. “We do have a faculty member who started offering Chinese and our business college asked about offering things in Chinese for Chinese students, just because of the size of the market.”
Retention Viewed as Part of Enrollment Decrease
Retention could be a huge factor in increasing enrollment, and the entire Academic Enrichment Department is scheduled for elimination, even though its mission is to improve retention and graduation rates.
“The question (exists) is the Academic Enrichment Program the right model? They currently offer four courses in Academic Enrichment. Unless we’re requiring students to take those courses, there isn’t a lot of students who are opting to take them as an option,” said Nowaczyk.
“What people are doing now is some mainstreaming of the kids of retention activities that you would do in a course and embedding it in other classes,” said Nowaczyk. “We’re going to be looking at that and how student affairs can play a role. It’s not a reflection on the part of the faculty and people here, but our retention rate has traditionally been one of the lowest of the PASSHE schools.”
This is another area that makes MacDaniel think that administration doesn’t realize the impact of its plan.
“They say we’re going to make $2 million in the coming two years from retrenchment, but they’re going to be retrenching Academic Enrichment, the department that does that,” said MacDaniel. “It just seems ill thought out in terms of the implementing of this and the disastrous effect that’s going to spread throughout many facets of the university.”
Clarion traces its roots back to education as a State Normal School and the new workforce plan calls for reorganization, eliminating the structure of a College of Education, and pulling those departments into one of the remaining colleges at Clarion University, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, or Venango College in Oil City.
Nowaczyk confirmed that Venango College would be playing a bigger role on the Clarion campus, especially with its experience in health-related courses.
“Right now, that is the plan, and Venango College will have the ability to offer programs here on this campus,” said Nowaczyk. “And we’ll also have the ability of other colleges to offer courses at Venango Campus. I hesitate to say too much about this, but we are putting together a proposal to the State Board of Nursing to do a Bachelor of Science of Nursing that would be at Clarion if it happens.”
Clarion’s reputation as a cultural center is also being called into question as a result of the workforce plan. Although the Music Education Program, two languages, and Academic Enrichment all face the chopping block, Nowaczyk still sees a possibility for the return of Summer Theatre.
“I talked with Bob Levy who is chair of theatre, and I want to bring back Summer Theater next year if we can (come) up with a business plan where the program is revenue neutral, or it’s not going to be costing us,” said Nowaczyk. “I’m sorry it’s gone. I want that thing to come back because summers here are pretty deadly in terms of the arts and what’s going on. Theatre is scheduled to lose one faculty member at this point.”
Many wait to see if the play (and programs) will go on.
President Karen Whitney announced Thursday there would be three additional 90-minute open forums this coming week to discuss the university’s comprehensive, two-year workforce plan and welcomes any feedback to her at president@clarion.edu by September 2.
Tuesday, August 27, 5-6:30 pm, Hart Chapel
Wednesday, August 28, 7:30-9 am, Hart Chapel
Wednesday, August 28, 2:30-4 pm, Hart Chapel
The complete plan is available at http://www.clarion.edu/workforceplan. FAQs are also available at http://www.clarion.edu/workforceplanFAQs.