BREAKING: Catholic University Eliminates 66 Staff Positions Due To Budget Problems
Image courtesy of Patrick D. Lewis
By Patrick D. Lewis
UPDATE 9:50 pm: A Catholic University spokesperson provided the following statement. The spokesperson said they were unable to discuss specifics about which positions had been eliminated and in what departments.
“Catholic University has completed a comprehensive financial resiliency plan that has placed the University on solid financial footing for the first time in years. Originally announced last October, the plan required adjusting the University’s operating budget by approximately 10% ($30 million), which included operational budget reductions, the launch of several new revenue-generating academic programs, and staffing adjustments. Unfortunately, it was not possible to reduce our operational budget by 10% without also eliminating staff positions. Today, we communicated 66 active staff position eliminations (7% of our workforce) to those affected and to our campus community. These were difficult but necessary decisions to ensure our long-term financial health and sustainability. Our priority now is supporting affected employees through this transition with enhanced severance packages and outplacement services, and focusing on our core educational mission.”
ORIGINAL: The Catholic University of America announced in an email to faculty and staff today that 66 employees are being cut due to ongoing budget problems at the university. The staff will receive one month of pay and benefits as compensation.
In the email, university president Peter Kilpatrick said, “Today, with a heavy heart, I must inform you that we have implemented the concluding phase of our comprehensive financial resiliency plan, which unfortunately involves the elimination of 66 active staff positions across various departments, accounting for 7% of our workforce.”
The email said those being terminated were notified today. “Each person affected has helped shape our institution and contributed to our mission in meaningful ways,” said Kilpatrick in the email. “They will remain on paid leave for one month, during which time they will not be responsible for any work and will continue to receive full benefits.”
Kilpatrick added that the university is, “committed to providing support for all members of our University family during this challenging time.”
It is not clear which positions have been eliminated. An addendum to Kilpatrick’s email provides a list of times and locations for “divisional meetings” held on Monday; “divisional leaders” would provide information about the firings, according to the email. However, it did not say whether these were the units whose staff were affected.
The departments holding meetings were listed as the Office of the Provost (including both Academic Affairs and Student Affairs), University Communications, Advancement, Enrollment, Office of the President, Budget and IR, Controller’s Office, Facilities, and HR and Technology Services.
The email also said that, following the personnel cuts, the university is “on track” to have a balanced budget for this fiscal year. Kilpatrick said he hoped to be able to provide raises and resume contributing to staff retirement accounts in the near future.
The eliminations come in the wake of a year in which CUA faced a budget deficit of tens of millions of dollars and was forced to undertake a series of measures to cut costs.
Note: a previous version of this article referred to the eliminations as firing staff members; this has been corrected to position eliminations, as the employees were not terminated due to conduct, performance, etc.
