The University of Southern Indiana startled faculty and staff in July when it sent out a foreboding letter warning about possible furloughs, salary cuts and firings if the school struggled financially during the pandemic. According to a thoroughly depressing New York Times story published last month, heavy financial problems are plaguing higher education institutions all over the country. Ohio Wesleyan University plans to obliterate 18 majors – one more than UE – while the University of Akron blew up a collective bargaining agreement so it could fire 97 unionized faculty members. Brutal reductions are also unfolding at the University of Massachusetts, the University of Arizona, and several others. Closer to home, Ball State laid off 38 staff members in October.
