University in Northeast lays groundwork for 31 layoffs amid financial concerns
Utica University sent notices this week to 23 academic departments, notifying them that 31 full-time faculty and librarians could be laid off. The notices come at a time when the institution is looking at cutting degrees and has been dealing with financial difficulties.
MassLive obtained the notices from Utica's American Association of University Professors (AAUP), which represents faculty, librarians, and certain counselors.
Twenty-six of the positions would be cut on December 17, 2025, while the other five would be terminated on May 8, 2026, according to the notices.
A Utica spokesperson, contacted on Wednesday, denied that layoffs were announced this week, and characterized the communication with staff as informing "potentially impacted departments of possible layoffs."
The positions to be cut are proposed in therapeutic recreation, theatre, respiratory care, psychology, physics, philosophy, occupational therapy, nursing, mathematics, management, library, history, geology, foreign languages, English, economics, cybersecurity, criminal justice, computer science, communications and media, chemistry, biology and anthropology.
The largest number of proposed cuts, with four positions, is in nursing.
"This is a hard day, and we all have deep concerns for the future. We worry about the careers we have devoted our lives to and our financial security. We worry about how our students will find the classes they need to graduate, how our programs can maintain accreditation with so many faculty gone, and how our University's reputation can withstand yet another significant blow," said members of a university union, AAUP-Utica, in a statement.
What has led up to these notices?
The notices, dated Monday, followed the university's announcement in July that it was cutting $5 million from its faculty budget through layoffs. Those include faculty and staff, though MassLive couldn't confirm how many staff layoffs have occurred or are projected.
At the same time, the university recently announced a recommended list of degree programs to end, such as Africana Studies and History and minors in Anthropology, Geoscience, Gender Studies, Sociology, Spanish and Writing. The deletion process wouldn't occur until May, according to the institution.
It comes at a time when the university has had lower enrollment, dropping from 5,100 students and 178 full-time faculty during the 2017-2018 academic year to around 3,600 students with nearly the same number of faculty members, according to a presentation from Todd Pfannestiel, president of Utica University.
During the presentation, however, Pfannestiel pointed to projected increases in total enrollment over the next three years.
Utica's AAUP union said that the argument that there are too many full-time faculty and staff "ignores the lived reality on our campus, where we are already operating with critically understaffed programs, struggling to offer enough courses and support our students."
"To suggest that our dedicated faculty and staff are the cause of this crisis, rather than the victims of it, demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the actual financial mismanagement that has led this institution to the brink," AAUP-Utica said.
They also stated that Utica leadership has painted the union as "unwilling to collaborate to solve a financial crisis," to which they disagree.
"Our priority has been, and always will be, working toward a solution to save this University," the union said.
Pfannestiel said, during the July presentation, that the university had "turned the corner." He said the university was operating at a $30 million cash operating deficit from 2022 to 2024, leading to nine layoffs, all employees taking pay cuts and freezes on employer contributions last year, he said.
Last year, the institution had less than $500,000 in deficits.
"We know this community needs this university as much as we need this community," Pfannestiel said.
"Today is the first public step to say we are not going to close because we have the vision, we have the plan. Challenging — we'll do it. And we have the determination because there is no other option. This university has been here for over 75 years and we're going to be here for another 75 years," he said.
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