Loyola
University
New
Orleans
Response
to the
American
Association
of University
Professors
Report
Executive Summary
Accompanying this summary is the complete response from Loyola University New Orleans to the American Association of University Professors’ (AAUP) draft “Report of the Special Committee on Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans Universities.” In its report, the AAUP takes Loyola and the other New Orleans universities to task for cuts deemed by their administrations and governing boards to be imperative for the future viability of the universities.
Compounding the post-Katrina problems that gave rise to Loyola’s reorganization plan is another unfortunate reality: people and institutions in our region continue to be failed by a whole array of national organizations—from governmental bodies to private insurance companies. Many national organizations simply do not understand the reality on the ground in New Orleans. Often, these institutions and their leaders seem to hinder rather than assist with the efforts of people as they work to resurrect our region. The AAUP report very narrowly examines the steps taken in 2006, but it ignores the long-term effects of Katrina on New Orleans and the necessity of Loyola’s reasonable attempts to adjust to them.
Loyola University’s response to the AAUP report has three parts:- Crucial missing elements
- Steps taken to respond to faculty concerns
- A list of 31 errors in the report
Crucial Missing Elements
- The AAUP report fails to communicate the extent of the devastation and lasting effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans and its institutions of higher education. New Orleans and its surrounding areas experienced the largest single catastrophe in the history of our country, accounting for billions of dollars of losses.
- Because of the difficulties facing the city, there is a downward trend in enrollment at area schools. Enrollment equates to revenue; if enrollment declines, so does revenue. While every school hopes enrollment will increase—and indeed every school is diligently recruiting—no school has a crystal ball with which to predict its enrollment future. Thus, declining enrollment may be a long-term if not permanent challenge.
- Although the review was done in a compressed timeframe, all the appropriate committees were consulted, and there were other forms of faculty consultation as well. While AAUP is seemingly unimpressed that Loyola solicited input from other than official faculty bodies, the fact is that large and small meetings of faculty were held, as were individual conversations. In the Loyola Faculty Handbook, the role of the faculty is to advise the administration and the Board of Trustees. The Board has the responsibility to decide program discontinuation.
- The draft report also seems to ignore that data alone did not drive the program discontinuance decisions. First and foremost was centrality to mission. While data played a role and some data was openly acknowledged to be flawed and thus was corrected or not used, considerations of the shape of the University in the future were paramount.
- In addition, while the report is self-characterized as looking at how the universities responded to the aftermath of Katrina, it really does not look at the full response. It only examines one aspect of our response, i.e., impact on faculty such as giving terminated faculty inadequate termination notice. It ignores the reality that each faculty member whose position was terminated will continue to receive full salary and benefits until May 2007, more than a year after the original notification of termination in April 2006.
- The report by the AAUP special committee was sent to the President and Provost by the AAUP with a request for confidentiality concerning the draft report. We agreed to that request and kept our agreement. Apparently, however, members of AAUP are not bound by the same obligations, since the AAUP report was widely shared with the local and national media.
Steps Taken to Respond to Faculty Concerns
- A Task Force of the Board for Faculty Relations was established and is currently meeting with the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate.
- The President now provides biweekly e-mail updates for the faculty and staff.
- The Provost and President meet monthly with the Executive Committee of the Senate.
- The Provost and President have implemented a process for reviewing possible resumption of suspended programs.
Factual Errors in the Draft Report
Noted below are a few of the 31 errors of factual issues in the draft:
- P. 51, The University sustained a $12.9 million operating deficit (does not include property or content losses) for the academic year 2005-2006. If no budget cuts were implemented for 2006-2007, the University anticipated another deficit year of about $12 million.
- The draft seems to have some confusion about our enrollment numbers. We did enroll 700 “new” students in fall (2006). That number includes new first-year students, transfers, and readmitted students. In 2005, we admitted 970 new first-year students, 98 transfers, and 52 readmitted students for 1,122 ”new” students. So in the fall of 2006, we were 422 lower in new students.
- P.55, lines 30-36. Pathways and the proposed changes were submitted to the entire university community for comment and review. SCAP was specifically tasked with performing their duty consistent with the handbook. Providing the proposal first to SCAP without sharing it with the entire campus seemed naïve given the importance of the plan. We also believed that greater paranoia and distress would arise if the proposal was not shared with everyone at the same time.
The trustees, administration, faculty, and staff of Loyola University New Orleans do not want to have our university censured by the AAUP. Thus said, Loyola cannot control the actions of the AAUP and other national organizations. Not having been through Katrina and the subsequent levee and governmental failures themselves, the AAUP special committee has failed to examine the entire context and impact of Katrina. We believe that by facing our realities together and acting with vision and in good faith, the people at Loyola and on the Gulf Coast will create a true resurrection—that is, a new life rooted in the old, but recognizably better.
Click here to view the complete AAUP Response (pdf format).
