Faculty and Staff Affected by Budget Cuts

Due to budget cuts, Oklahoma Christian University has laid off several faculty and staff members. The budgeting issues mainly stem from a decline in enrollment and the ending of government COVID relief funding. 

Provost Brian Starr discussed how administration planned a reaction to the financial deficit of the university. 

“We had to make some painful adjustments because we’ve got to live within our means. The ultimate reason we have to live within our means is because it’s really important for us to keep our tuition affordable,” Starr said. “We’ve got to raise tuition given the inflationary pressures all throughout the economy, but we’ve got to keep that in line with reasonable expectations that are at inflation levels and not above.” 

Decisions were made by the Senior Academic Leadership team composed of deans from different colleges on campus, Associate Provost Virgina Smith and Provost Brian Starr. Starr described discussions the team had about where to cut costs.

“We looked at enrollment trends and asked where students are going, what are they doing? What services do we need to provide them? What majors are they selecting? We looked at net tuition revenue minus the cost of each program,” Starr said. “We asked different faculty members what’s critical and core to what they’re doing so we wouldn’t touch those areas. We had to factor all of that into the ultimate decision.” 

Ultimately, the team found cutting personnel to be the best option for the overall student experience.

“When you’re having to cut a million dollars, you’ve got to use what data you do have, and you’ve got to compare it as best you can across the board to all the things students need,” Starr said. “You have to ask this very hard question, ‘What expenses can we cut without cutting the student experience or without cutting a student’s major?’ The fact is, any person you cut is going to cut the student experience, but some things are going to cut more deeply.”

The three full-time librarians were among the people to be cut from the university payroll.

“I hate cutting the library, but we don’t have anyone here majoring in library science. We don’t have any students who are here specifically for the library. Whereas with all the other faculty members, we have students who are here specifically for what they are teaching,” Starr said. “It was not as central to the revenue balance as places across the university where students are paying to take courses in a particular discipline.”

Kimberly Cannon is a third generation Oklahoma Christian alumna and library instructor who will not have her contract renewed. Cannon discussed the role a librarian serves as a faculty member which the university will no longer have after this semester. 

“It’s helpful for the librarians to be faculty as we currently are. A lot of times, librarians are reminding people, ‘If you’re doing this new program, we’re going to have to get more materials. We need to support it over here too.’ There’s definitely the potential that a staff librarian wouldn’t have the information to be included in those conversations.”

Chris Rosser, Professor of Library Science and Theological Librarian, shared his experience of the emergency faculty meeting held the day after the layoffs.

“I asked very clearly in that meeting, in front of everybody, ‘Why librarians?’ No justification was given,” Rosser said. “Dr. Starr even asked if any of the faculty or any of the academic leadership team would like to, in his words, opine on this decision, and no one spoke up.”

Starr spoke to the data reviewed by the team involving the library. They assessed 1000s of data points to evaluate the value of the library in relation to the function of the university. 

“We looked at the data they [the library] assimilated. We asked our deans, how much does your college use the library? We determined some colleges use the library much more than other colleges,” Starr said. “There are some colleges that have pretty robust use. There are other colleges that the library is not a critical resource for them.”

Rosser expressed his concern for the university without librarians on campus. 

“If the university is in such a dire situation financially that they had no recourse but to eliminate librarians, and not just one of the librarians, then I do have a lot of concern about the future of the university,” Rosser said. “There’s a verse in Ecclesiastes that says, ‘What is lacking cannot be measured.’ That is what the university is about to experience. The loss I fear is coming is just profound.”

Starr explained the university’s plan to keep the library functioning with staff and student workers. 

“I want you to imagine the library working with well-trained student workers who are actually learning something about library science and learning about the professional world. If they can’t answer the question, we escalate that up to a staff member and ultimately we’ll have a librarian director who can serve as the ultimate authority,” Starr said. “There is an efficiency I hope we can achieve, which is that our students who end up working in the library learn a whole lot more about how to get good information and discern what is good versus what is bad information.” 

Rosser shared his opposition to the new library structure. 

“Here’s the problem with the future of the library. We’re at a moment where artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies are absolutely going to change the nature of higher education,” Rosser said. “This is a moment when you need leadership in those areas. But they had to eliminate these librarians who have shown leadership.” 

During her time as a librarian at Oklahoma Christian, Cannon said she liked interacting with students the most. From planning murder mystery parties for the student workers to knitting on Monday nights, Cannon enjoyed the community on campus. 

“One thing I started was the Connecting Threads group. I started a group where we just get together on Monday nights and work on a knitting or crocheting project,” Cannon said. “I got to create a community getting to know the students and involve a creative outlet as well. 

In addition to creating and teaching several courses on media literacy, Rosser is most proud of his role in creating the now disbanded Safe At Home Chapel. 

“We created Safe at Home chapel not as an activist space. This was a liturgical space and within that, it was a very pastoral space. We were caring for one another,” Rosser said. “That is something I’m very proud of, because it shows the library has a capacity to convene. The library can be a space where students who feel marginalized can come, and they can feel safe.” 

Rosser discussed the value of a strong library on campus. 

“There’s a Japanese proverb that says, ‘The strong one under the floor.’ We are unseen often, but we are holding up and supporting the entire information and academic substructure in this place,” Rosser said. “If we are to function as a university, you have to have a library and you have to have librarians who are providing that kind of strength, holding up the rest.”