Clatsop Community College Laysoff Faculty

In an effort to cut back on costs a lot of two year schools have been cutting back staff, but one has just gotten rid of a whole bunch of its professors, a move that surprised a number of the students on campus. Clatsop Community College, which is found in Astoria, Queens, New York let go some of its professors in order to shore up a budget gap.

This is not the first time that the school has gotten rid of staff members, but in the past they have always been support staff. This is the first time that the school has needed to cut full time members of the teaching staff in order to make ends meet. Estimates are showing that roughly one-third of the professors have been cut from the staff.

The school needs to cut about 1 million dollars from its budget in order to stay on track and fill in its gap. The gap was created primarily by the fact that the school is getting less money from income taxes and the state of New York is sending less in appropriated funds than the university expected. These two cuts have led to the layoffs for professors.

Students did not respond well to the news of the professor’s layoffs. One student, Vanessa Corder who is currently taking classes in the business department at Clatsop Community College told a reporter at The Washington Examiner that, “I know money’s tight, but teachers shouldn’t have to lose their jobs — at least not so many.”

Of course, not all of the cuts are being made to the professors jobs. Some cuts are also being made to school administrators, and others are choosing to get out of this sinking ship voluntarily. Two of the administrative positions have been merged for the coming year, though the college did not say what positions they were exactly. We do know that the dean of student services, one Mr. Roger Friesen, will be let go from his position at the end of the school year.

Administrators were disillusioned. Stephen Schoonmaker, the vice president of students told the same reporter for the Washington Examiner that, “When I came here four years ago, I had dreams and visions of bringing the college along in positive ways. This is not what I envisioned us having to do.” Mr. Schoonmaker is leaving the school in January of 2012 to become the president of the College of the Ouachitas, which is located in Malvern, Arkansas.

The college is also looking into ways to make partnerships that will cut the costs of expensive programs such as nursing by getting grants or using resources from non-for-profit organizations and making strategic partnerships with local hospitals. Seeing that many hospitals in the state of New York are already laying off workers themselves to cut costs, these efforts may come in a day later and a dollar short.

Some professors may be offered adjunct work with the school. This work pays about one-third as much as a typical professors salary. Professors who are offered adjunct work must take it, or forgo their unemployment benefits.