Straws in the Wind - Part 164

From Inside Higher Ed: An independent arbitrator ordered Portland State University to reinstate 10 faculty members after determining the university violated its collective bargaining agreement with the Portland State University American Association of University Professors, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.  The faculty senate in April voted no confidence in the administration’s “Bridge to the Future” plan to address an $18 million budget deficit, and the vote “underscores the fact that the university made its layoff decisions before it had sufficient evidence to support them. That is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement,” the arbitrator wrote in her decision. 

PSU-AAUP filed a labor grievance after the university laid off 17 non-tenure-track professors at the end of the 2024–25 academic year as part of its plan to close the deficit before the end of the spring term. The remaining seven employees declined to grieve their layoffs... 

The union contract requires university officials to follow a specific, lengthy process to lay off faculty members for economic reasons—as opposed to eliminating courses or programs—which the arbitrator determined they did not do. Portland State is considering an appeal...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/11/13/portland-state-ordered-reinstate-some-laid-faculty.

From the LA Times: The University of Southern California is in the throes of its most aggressive cost-cutting drive in memory — a grinding period of financial austerity that has shaken the university’s moneyed reputation and raised doubts among faculty and staff about the school’s ability to sustain itself as a top-tier institution. Aiming to eliminate a budget deficit that ballooned to more than $200 million, the private school has cut nearly 1,000 positions, or almost 4% of its workforce.

Faculty and staff said that the layoffs have been especially stressful because they have been ongoing for months, although the university said last week that they are nearly complete — and that as many as 200 of those who lost their jobs could find new positions at the school. Other cost-saving measures have included restrictions on discretionary spending, such as travel for conferences...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-12/usc-layoffs-cuts-deficit.