Josiah Devine Johnson
Lead Investigative Reporter
Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) prides itself on its community for students, faculty, staff and administration. However, many staff and faculty have found the care from administration to be inconsistent, particularly when it comes to job security.
“It feels like faculty aren’t listened to. They can’t be honest because of how it will affect their livelihoods because they’re scared to speak out against administration. PLU is a company, and companies care about their bottom line. Companies want silence,” PLU student Geoff Dalbalcon said.
In 2021, PLU committed to budget cuts and significant changes in academic program offerings as proposed by the 2021 Faculty Joint Committee (FJC) and President Allan Belton, which were ultimately decided on by the Board of Regents (BoR).
The budget cuts resulted in the restructuring of PLU into four colleges, the dissolving of several majors and minors, and slashes to departments resulting in a loss of 36 faculty members and an unknown number of staff.
Cut faculty were given a one year grace period to help them phase out and find work elsewhere making this school year the first year after that grace period. As a result of these changes, PLU’s community feels different for some returners.
“It was weird showing up to PLU and finding out who left or who hadn’t made it after the FJC,” said one student who wished to remain anonymous. “It was like some people just vanished.”
The effects of the FJC have left “a lot of lingering grief,” said Reverend Jen Rude of Campus Ministry.
“I’m painfully aware of former colleagues who are not around anymore because of the cuts, and still feel sad about their absence,” Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Seth Dowland said.
Dowland was a faculty representative for the 2017 FJC and spent 11 years working in the Religion Department before losing his position due to the 2021 FJC/BoR budget cuts. Dowland secured a job within the newly formed College of Humanities, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Social Sciences.
“It was a brutal process. I often referred to it as “The Hunger Games,” Dowland said. “I’m also a bit less sure about where I belong at PLU.”
The feeling of loss and displacement is common among those affected by the FJC/BoR cuts.
“The whole process left us feeling isolated because there wasn’t really any clear communication on what was happening or what was going to possibly be cut until we got an email telling us it was over,” PLU student Curtis Ganung said.
Ganung is a Nordic Studies major and is one of many students who now claim a major that no longer exists.
Students’ frustration in the handling of the 2021 FJC process is not new and has had many vocal critics. Among them is PLU Alumni and former ASPLU President Gracie Anderson.
“If we had had clear communication from the university, we wouldn’t be in the place we are now, where students are finding out from LinkedIn that their beloved professors aren’t coming back to teach next year,” Anderson said.
At its inception, the hope for this story was to report on how the 2021 FJC/BoR budget cuts have affected the PLU community, culture and direction.
The Mast received a wide range of feelings in the responses, but more than anything else, a reluctant silence.
Of the 14 faculty that The Mast set out to interview, over half refused to go on record for the explicit reason that they were afraid of administrative retaliation. They feared that it would affect their livelihoods during a potential future round of budget cuts.
Faculty’s fear may stem from the results of a 2018 independent investigation by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The AAUP’s investigation looked into the dismissal of a former 40-year-veteran of PLU’s music department, Jane Harty. She was a known faculty advocate, lead lecturer in music and contracted contingent faculty member.
In 2018, PLU discovered a student had tried to pay Harty for independent piano lessons. University administration dismissed her, claiming that the action was against policy, despite Harty returning the money.
Harty and others believed that administration jumped at the opportunity to fire her for reasons beyond providing private piano lessons, and that PLU failed to provide just cause in her dismissal as the AAUP investigation concluded.
They believed Harty was cut from her position because of her past advocacy for the rights of faculty and because of her efforts in 2013 to unionize. The effort to unionize was opposed by PLU, which launched a legal battle between the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and PLU administration.
After a dismissal hearing that was only granted to Harty after a full investigation was threatened, the AAUP concluded the nature of the misconduct for her dismissal may have stemmed from long-standing displeasure with Dr. Harty’s activities.
“This report provided by AAUP is devastating. It highlights a failed process,” Troy Storfjell said. At the time Storfjell gave this quote in an interview to the News Tribune, he was a professor of Nordic Studies at PLU. He is currently a professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies at the university.
Storfjell went on to say “It concerns me that the university doesn’t appear more concerned … That ought to be taken seriously.”
The Mast reached out to the provost and president for comment, but both were unable to provide any at the time.
PLU administration responded to a draft of the AAUP’s findings that there was “‘no evidence of retaliation’ and the report ‘grossly misstates the record’” according to the News Tribune.
After the investigation, PLU was added to the AAUP’s Censure List, which is a list of institutions that faculty members should shun, according to the AAUP.
“There’s not a process for staff like there is with faculty. Losing them is not as visible as losing majors or faculty,” said Rude.
Rude believes she cannot judge the validity of some faculty’s fear of retribution, but knows that their fear is extremely valid, and that “trust has suffered.”
At the moment it feels like PLU is focused on moving on from the FJC/BoR cuts, and like “PLU is giving up on itself,” Ganung said.
Many interviewees shared a similar sentiment. “This sucks,” Dowland said. “I’m sorry this has happened. We can’t replicate the programs PLU has lost, nor can we recover all the faculty expertise that’s gone.”
This is an ongoing story and you can expect more updates from The Mast. Extensive past reporting on the FJC process can be found on The Mast’s website, mastmedia.plu.edu.
