Staff and students at Columbia College are expressing shock after announced layoffs of at least 70 staff and administrative positions at the school this week.
According to a statement from Columbia, more than 30 vacancies also won’t be filled, with officials citing budget cuts aimed at closing multi-million dollar budget deficits this summer.
Lillian Gecker, a therapist at the university, is one of those being laid off and is stunned after receiving the news.
“I’ve still been pretty stressed,” she said. “It’s just been a few days, but it’s hard to wrap my mind around preparing for this huge life change that I wasn’t expecting and didn’t have any say in.”
According to the college, the president of the school is also expected to step down in July as part of a massive restructuring effort.
Still others say that the staffing cuts are directly related to strikes by adjunct faculty last year, which resulted in a new contract in mid-Dec. 2023.
“We have reason to believe that these layoffs were not necessary, and that there were other ways to accomplish budgetary corrections or financial decisions that didn’t have to come at the loss of staff,” Allison Geller, a college coordinator who is also part of the bargaining union at the school, said.
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Officials cited declining enrollment in their statement on the layoffs.
“This decision was not made lightly, and was determined after a long and careful review,” the school said in a statement. “The impacted position were across all business units.”
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According to the school, impacted staff and administrators will receive severance packages as part of the layoffs.
Gecker expressed concerns about the toll the layoffs will have on mental health treatments available through the school, saying a majority of the school’s therapists will be let go.
“My concern is that student needs will not be met by whatever solution the college comes up with,” she said.
The school says it will have four on-campus licensed therapists and will offer third-party telehealth options after the layoffs, according to officials.
