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‘A sense of doom’ pervades university, Watchdog reports; those ‘identified’ for ‘discontinuation’ given separation notices
From Staff Reports
UNC Asheville recently announced “limited” layoffs of 12 employees amid its $6 million budget shortfall, Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on April 12.
“The action was announced slightly more than two months after UNCA announced it needed to take immediate action to address a $6 million deficit for the school’s current budget,” News 13 noted.
Specifically, “the chancellor told the campus in a letter on April 11, 2024 that a “limited number of employees” had been let go,” News 13 statted.
Meanwhile, the Asheville Watchdog website reported an overall bleak asssessment of UNCA in its April 13 story headlined “Anger, sadness among UNCA faculty and students as school abruptly fires 12 employees — ‘A sense of doom.’” with a subheadline adding, “Chancellor says dismissals necessary to help escape $6 million deficit by June 30 deadline.”
On campus, the Blue Banner student newspaper reported in a March 27 story that UNCA’s students provided “a handful of responses” — many of them highly critical of the school’s administration — when the newspaper recently conducted a “budget crisis survey.”
The story stated, “The survey aimed to engage with student voices and get their opinions on how the UNCA administration should address the budget issues. Student responses ranged from moderately aware to well-informed....”
Meanwhile, the Daily Planet, seeking “the latest” on budget-crisis developments at UNCA, emailed Michael Strysick, the university’s chief university communication and marketing officer, twice — April 18 and 19, and asked for a statement addresssing the situation.
After the second email was sent April 19, Strysick responded with the following statement:
“I hate to sound like an old record, but have you reviewed the last two Chancelor’s Updates, for April 11 and 18, which are available at https://new.unca.edu/asheville-2030/? I believe most of your questions will be answered there.”
The questions the Daily Planet had submitted to Strysick, seeking his comment, were as follows:
• Following the “discontinuation” of 12 staff members at UNCA, are more layoffs projected soon? If so, can you provide any specifics? Also, what other areas — besides cutting staff — do you see as feasible to zero out the deficit?
• There is “a sense of doom” around UNCA, regarding its chances of emerging successfully from its huge financial deficit, according to a report in the Asheville Watchdog. Would you agree with the Watchdog’s assessment, or do you have confidence that UNCA’s future looks bright? Or are you "in the middle," thinking UNCA’s chances to emerge from this crisis are better-than average?
• The Blue Banner student newspaper recently ran a story about its “budget crisis survey” of fellow students — and the students cited in the story were all highly critical of the chancellor’s strategic plan and some accused the administration of purposely mis-communicating to the students, so as to mislead them. What is your viewpoint on all of that?
Elsewhere, the Asheville Citizen Times, in its April 12 story on UNCA’s layoffs, reported the following:
“One major factor in the deficit was a 25 percent enrollment decline over the course of five years.
“Enrollment in fall 2023 was 2,907 students. Now, the university is striving to have between 3,800 and 4,000 students enrolled by 2030.
“UNCA’s webpage ‘Asheville 2030’ was created to provide details on the school’s financial situation. They have asked members of the UNCA community to take their survey of the same title to contribute their own opinions on how to best address campus needs and improve the deficit and enrollment rates.”
Meanwhile, News 13 added, “The announcement comes after UNCA said it was facing a $6 million deficit for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2024. The university said it risked adding $8 million to its deficit if the budget was not balanced for the 2025 fiscal year.
“The chancellor told faculty and staff during a meeting on Feb. 6 that the university would be taking ‘immediate expense control measures.’ At the time, the university’s statement did not specify what those exact measures would consist of, but noted that Budget & Finance would be ‘exploring tapping into any existing resources outside of our state funds, limited though they may be.’
“Later, on March 19, the chancellor told News 13 that they had frozen faculty hiring for the time being,” News 13 stated.
In its April 13 story, the Asheville Watchdog reported that it “had obtained an email sent to colleagues Thursday morning (April 11) by one of the affected staffers,” which stated the following:
“I was just informed that, after 17 years of employment, today will be my last day at UNCA. I will miss so many of you, and regret that I won’t likely have a chance to say goodbye in person.
“It is devastating to hear this news and how the university is going about these layoffs,” one veteran faculty member said, requesting anonymity because of fear of reprisal. “UNCA isn’t the same place as it was when I started my full-time teaching career over two decades ago. Back then, there was a sense of community and excitement. Now there’s an ominous feeling in the hallways, a sense of doom.”
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