DePaul’s budget cuts— the projected $56.5M budget deficit and calls for transparency
plus, stories making headlines today
Welcome back to ‘In the Loop’! It’s your newsletter team — Kate, Monique, Richie, Emily S., Cary, Citlali, Sam, Lauren, Bridget and Emily F. — back with the news you need to get through the week.
Last week, DePaul announced its first phase of budget cuts to address a $56.5 million projected deficit in the university’s budget. Students protested outside the Lincoln Park Student Center and some met with university administrators. Faculty members echoed concerns, fearing cuts to their own departments but, for non-tenured faculty, a cut to their job entirely. Today, 14 East spoke with President Robert Manuel, plus faculty and students worried about the impacts of budget cuts.
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We’ve got the latest on the budget, and so much more. Let’s get into it.
Students, faculty seek transparency on DePaul’s budget cuts
By Kate Linderman, Monique Mulima and Richie Requena
For many students at DePaul, budget cuts announced earlier this week came out of the blue. For faculty and staff, the extent of the budget cuts has some worried about the future of their departments.
Approximately 70 students, and a few faculty, gathered outside the student center today demanding transparency from university administration when it comes to what faculty, staff, programs and resources will be affected by the $56.5 million projected budget deficit announced for the 2023-24 school year.
“We are demanding transparency about whether or not all of these budget cuts are necessary,” said Jessica Patrick, one of the organizers of today’s student protest. Student organizers, in a statement to the university, called for an audit from an independent third party before any cuts take place.
On the faculty side, the DePaul chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) voted today to “facilitate sponsoring an external forensic audit of the university's finances,” according to Marcy Dinius, a member of the AAUP, Faculty Council and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senate.
As a result of the deficit, university departments are making plans to cut costs.
According to an email sent to faculty by Faculty Council President Sonia Soltero, “the proposed cost savings measures have been broken out between faculty ($11.3 million), staff ($28.3 million), and departmental expenses ($16.9 million).” Some full-time staff who are retirement eligible or meet other requirements are also being given the option to voluntarily leave under the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment Program (VSIPP).
Some nontenured faculty fear job loss while students fear a loss in program offerings and resources, many offered by adjunct and term faculty at DePaul.
“I feel like the university doesn't see that, that not only are they hurting faculty … but they're also hurting the students that really depend on faculty that, you know, like made me feel heard during a really hard time,” first-year Women and Gender studies (WGS) student Vanessa Ramon-Ibarra said.
Though no official cuts to programs and resources for students were confirmed on Monday, a group of student activists, who refer to themselves as the Direct Action Team, met with university administration Monday afternoon to discuss student concerns about the budget cuts.
Megan Mia, one of the core organizers of the Direct Action Team, told 14 East that the main topic discussed in their meeting with administration was ensuring that any budget cuts were shifted away from student resources. Mia said administrators told the group to approach the Student Government Association with their concerns.
Following a meeting with student organizers, 14 East and student media outlets sat down with President Rob Manuel on Monday to discuss the upcoming cost-saving measures. Manuel says that of 240 term faculty, currently only six will not be renewed. Erika Sanchez, one of those six term faculty, received the news today. In an email to students on Monday afternoon, Sanchez said “As you can imagine, I’m having a lot of feelings about this. For now, I will not be holding classes.”
Nontenured faculty, which includes adjunct faculty (part-time) and term faculty (full-time) are hired on a contract basis and do not have the same protections as tenured faculty. Therefore, term and adjunct faculty may not be immediately laid off, but the university can ultimately decide to not renew their contract.
For faculty, staff and departmental budget cuts, the deans and colleges will work together to meet the required reductions. These decisions will be made by April 14 and sent to Manuel and later to DePaul’s Board of Trustees for approval.
Jack Magaw, a member of Faculty Council’s Adjunct Faculty Advisory Committee, says that since the deans are not required to provide their decisions yet, it’s hard to know what cuts will look like. Magaw did say, however, that the budget-cutting measures are not as bad as he and others thought they would be initially.
He says that colleges may have larger class sections next school year to save costs.
“It's absolutely possible that they will combine two sections that traditionally have low enrollment into one section that is then taught by a full-time faculty member who's on salary. And so that either if one adjunct was teaching both of those sections, that's two classes that the person loses,” Magaw said.
Manuel says, however, that he does not believe that the cuts will affect course offerings since DePaul’s current offerings are based on when DePaul had higher enrollment.
Magaw, an adjunct professor at The Theatre School, says that his dean has been very transparent about upcoming budget cuts. In contrast, Dinius told 14 East her college has not been transparent about the department cuts coming this Friday.
Some departments have also had conversations with the President’s office about proposed cuts. Manuel says that he met with the library after they raised concerns that the $1.5 million reduction to their department would reduce access to digital services and subscriptions for students. Manuel says that after his team’s discussion with the library, those cuts will now be reduced.
In Manuel’s January 26 speech at the Designing DePaul event, he spoke about what DePaul expected at the time to be a $29 million shortfall in the budget for 2024 and he said that he hoped small cuts throughout the year could help DePaul break even. However, he said that if the path DePaul was on didn’t change, there may have to be larger cuts.
“Just moving them forward shows a gap that gets created that simply can’t be covered by the same mechanisms that we put in place,” he said at the time, adding that if DePaul’s current scenario did not change, there would probably be layoffs.
For now, the university plans to rely heavily on voluntary separations, a sort of buy-out program for staff who are close to retirement age and have taught at the university for extensive periods of time.
The upcoming fiscal year will be the first one since the pandemic that the university will no longer be able to receive Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds, a program within the CARES Act that provided economic relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The university received $34,575,144 in HEERF funds, which had a portion of those funds go directly to students affected financially by COVID-19 shutdowns.
Both faculty and students have some concerns about the way the cuts are currently being handled and communicated.
“We're talking about people who might have been here for a long time, but maybe don't teach required classes, and it's important that we talk to and include everyone in these conversations who it might affect, and I know that that is not occurring across the board at the university right now,” Magaw said.
Students also feel like they should be involved in these conversations. Over 1,000 people have signed a change.org petition started by student Gracie Crone. The Direct Action Team has also created an Instagram (@depaulbudget) where they post information about student action on budget cuts.
After today’s meeting between student organizers and university administrators, Mia says that the conversation is just getting started. The Direct Action Team has been communicating with the Student Government Association and also hopes to have a second meeting with administration.
“We have next steps [of] reaching out about the meeting and reaching out to SGA in order for us to continue to have conversation and focus on reallocating the budget cuts,” Mia said.
Editor’s note: Have questions about DePaul’s budget cuts? Let us know by providing your question(s) in this Google Form. We will do our best to answer your questions as we continue to follow this story.
Correction: a previous version of this story said that the Direct Action Committee planned to meet again with university administration on Thursday, April 13. The Direct Action Committee will be reaching out to administration for a second meeting but no meeting has been scheduled.
DePaul News
By Cary Robbins
DePaul’s Event about the Colorado Environmental Justice Digital Storytelling Project
On Wednesday, April 12, from 1-2:30 p.m., Phaedra C. Pezzullo, who is the associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, will be talking about the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and their new digital storytelling project. The event, presented by Writing & Rhetoric Across Borders, will be held at McGowan South 107, and participants will be provided with a presentation, discussion and refreshments. Pezzullo will talk about the “StoryMaps her students co-produced, including a rural predominantly Latinx community and the sovereign national of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, as well as why a community highlighted on Comedy Central didn’t make the first round,” according to the eventbrite page. Read more about the event here.
Upcoming Designing DePaul session with President Manuel
President Robert Manuel will be hosting another Designing DePaul session next Monday, April 24, at 3 p.m. His mission with these sessions is to get the DePaul community “to participate in transforming DePaul into the national model for higher education,” according to the Event Brite description. Anyone from the DePaul community is welcome to join the event at the North Cafe on the 11th floor of the DePaul Center on the Loop Campus. During this session, the president will be talking about the geographical and community expansion of the university. Click this link to learn more about the event.
Discussion panel with Chen Qiufan and two DePaul faculty about writing science fiction and climate justice stories
Award-winning science fiction novelist Chen Quifan — also known as Stanley Chen — was named at DePaul Humanities Center’s 2022-2023 Humanities Laureate. He will be coming to DePaul on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Room 120 at the Lincoln Park Student Center for a discussion panel along with two DePaul faculty Tara Betts and John Shanahan. They will be discussing science fiction and climate justice writing. To read more about the event, click here.
Nominations open for DePaul’s Spirit of DePaul Award
DePaul faculty, staff and students are now able to submit their recommendations for consideration for the Spirit of DePaul Award. The award is given to “full-time university employees whose leadership and service to the university” resemble the spirit of St. Vincent DePaul. The nominations are to be made online by Friday, April 28, at 5 p.m. Read more about the criteria for nominating someone for the award through this DePaul Newsline story.
Lastly, here is your weekend sports update (April 7-9)
DePaul men’s tennis team won 6-1 against Villanova on Friday.
DePaul women’s tennis team won 6-0 against Seton Hall on Friday.
DePaul’s softball team lost 2-3 against Creighton on Friday.
DePaul’s softball team won 6-4 against Creighton on Saturday.
DePaul women’s tennis team won 4-3 against St. John’s on Saturday.
Dominic Bruce earned a new school record on Saturday during a track meet at Champaign with his record time of 14:16.74 in the men’s 5000m.
DePaul’s cheer team won fifth place at NCA Collegiate Nationals.
Chicago Headlines
By Citlali Perez
MAT Asphalt settles pollution complaints — MAT Asphalt, located at 2055 W. Pershing Road in Mckinley Park agreed to pay the city $20,000 and improve dust and odor control. The settlement agreement was signed by Chicago Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady on Friday. That same day, the company was awarded $141 million in contracts to provide asphalt for road improvements. MAT is required to provide a plan for odor control and an outline for dust measures on a quick turnaround. Neighbors for Environmental Justice, a community group in McKinley Park has been a critic of the company and of the city’s enforcement of air pollution laws since 2018. Brett Chase with the Chicago Sun-Times has more on the story.
ShotSpotter contract renewed by Lightfoot administration — ShotSpotter is a surveillance technology that is meant to detect gunshots and alert police through the use of an artificial intelligence algorithm paired with a microphone system. The sensors have been installed in 12 police districts. The accuracy of this technology has been largely debated and is attributed to the shooting of Adam Toledo. The city’s contract with ShotSpotter began in 2018 and was extended for two more years in December 2020. The contract was extended in October around the time Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson announced his campaign, including his promise to cancel the contract. Tom Schuba with the Chicago Sun-Times has the full story.
Save A Lot unwelcome by Englewood residents and alderpeople — On Wednesday, April 5th community members protested outside of the Save A Lot after store leaders announced a soft launch for Thursday. Yellow Banana, the company that owns and operates the Save A Lot stores, signed the lease for the building at 832 W. 63rd St in December soon after Whole Foods announced it would be closing in November; ever since, community groups have opposed this replacement. CEO Joe Canfield announced they would push their soft lunch to a later date The grand opening is set for May. Atavia Reed with Block Club has the story.
National Headlines
By Sam Freeman
DeSantis aims to further restrict immigration — The Florida legislature is considering a series of anti-immigration measures that would penalize those who aid undocumented immigrants. The bills are a response to what DeSantis says is an uncontrolled flow of immigrants across the border. The bill would make aiding and transporting undocumented immigrants punishable by felony charges in addition to several other policies, all of which are expected to pass in the weeks to come. Miriam Jordan from the New York Times has the story.
Abortion ruling in Texas could impede the FDA’s authority — In Texas, a federal judge may rule to revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. It’s supposedly the first time that a court has directly opposed the FDA’s approval of a drug. The ruling would completely delegitimize the FDA, which gained its overarching authority in 1938 and continues to be recognized by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) as the “gold standard” for drug approvals. The plaintiffs in the Texas lawsuit are also targeting the second drug used in the two-drug abortion process called misoprostol. Christina Jewett and Pam Belluck of the New York Times have the story.
Tennessee House Republicans expel two Democrats — Reps. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, and Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, were expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives for speaking without being recognized and leading protests to call for gun restrictions. Jones and Pearson were Black representatives in a Republican supermajority. It’s the first time since 1866, when Tennessee was trying to legalize citizenship for previously enslaved peoples, that multiple Tennessee legislators have been ousted in a single session. "Weaponizing legislative discipline reveals a concerning level of democratic dysfunction," said Miriam Seifter, a state constitutional law expert. Bill Chappell from NPR has more information.
California’s floods could reflect a warmer future — In recent months, California has experienced several atmospheric rivers, catastrophic flooding and a large winter snowpack. According to climate scientists, these weather conditions likely indicate worse flooding will come in future years. Climate scientist Daniel Swain found in a study that the warming climate has significantly increased the potential for atmospheric floods and doubled the probability of a megaflood. The state’s climatologist, Michael Anderson, is working to create a flood-modeling project to understand the consequences of extreme storms over time on current infrastructure. Ezra David Romero from NPR has the story.
Hey, Check This Out!
With Featured Columnist Lauren Sheperd
It is officially iced coffee season in Chicago, at least in my opinion. Since I love hot coffee and iced coffee equally, I choose not to drink iced coffee in the winter but I missed it. So, over the weekend, I decided to try a new coffee shop that was recommended to me by my cousin: Colectivo Coffee.
The closest Colectivo location to campus is on Clark Street just north of Fullerton, though there are locations in Andersonville, Wicker Park, Logan Square and Evanston, according to their website. Their large patio makes for a great place to do homework or hang out with friends on a nice day, but there’s also an enclosed patio if you prefer to sit inside. I opted for the iced mocha – which was delicious – but their menu offers other types of coffee, teas and smoothies in all different sizes. They also have food and bakery products.
Colectivo was started in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1993 and expanded just across the state until 2017 when they opened their first store in Chicago in the Logan Square neighborhood. Since then, Colectivo has become a staple in the city with five locations on Chicago’s north side. With a goal of a better coffee experience paired with good music, the founders decided to take a local approach and have partnerships with small, local farmers.
The next time you’re looking for a good coffee and a large patio, head over to Clark Street and order something from Colectivo.
Resources
Need resources regarding cooling centers, rental assistance, abortion access, COVID-19 testing and vaccines or mental health? Check out our complete list here.
That’s it for today! See you next Monday.
The 14 East Newsletter Team