By The Editorial Board
Baylor’s fiscal issues are affecting far more than the dollar amount you see in BearWeb. It is fundamentally changing our university and what makes Baylor, Baylor. It’s hitting departments, retirement and, on a personal level, The Lariat’s newsroom.
University President Linda Livingstone announced in February that the university would cut $35 million from its operating budget over the next two years and increase tuition by 6.5%. Now, months later, departments are feeling the repercussions.
The budget cuts are already affecting departments across the university. The Lariat learned on Thursday that 40 positions were removed. Eight full-time positions in the College of Arts and Sciences were cut.
This isn’t an isolated incident.
The 40 layoffs are the beginning of a series of initiatives to save money — to value a financial safety net over the well-being of students. Even if faculty and staff don’t face layoffs, they face a significant decline in retirement benefits. Effective Aug. 1, the 10.8% retirement contribution will be lowered to 8%. All of these changes might provide a safety net in the future, but at what cost today?
Throughout the process, there have been abundant cuts and little explanation. When Livingstone announced it in February, she didn’t cite any particular financial strain.
“Baylor’s commitment to our Christian mission is incredibly strong, our enrollment remains healthy and our financial foundation is sound,” Livingstone said. “But these endemic strengths do not exempt us from the need to be prudent, strategic and proactive.”
These changes are easy to ignore for a student who relies on their parents to pay tuition. It’s easy to push aside when you aren’t one of the staff members laid off without a plan. But not everyone has the luxury of ignoring it. For The Lariat, the effects are seen in our very newsroom.
Student Media Adviser Julie Reed was told Thursday her position would be dissolved come August. For 20 years, Reed has served as an adviser to Lariateers and other student media entities. Now she faces an uncertain future. After 20 years in her office, her home away from home, Reed will move out.
While Baylor lays off faculty and staff as a “strategic and proactive” measure, Reed will receive one month of pay while she searches for another job. Reed was not given the luxury of strategic and proactive measures beforehand. Meanwhile, Provost Dr. Nancy Brickhouse and former Music School Dean Kevin Sanders received one-year paid sabbaticals before returning to the faculty.
Whatever the reasons cited, the cuts affect far more than just the budget. If you ask any student at Baylor, they can cite a professor who was like family to them — that went above and beyond their job description. Per her contract, Reed spent hours in the newsroom helping during late print nights, running orientation, giving feedback on stories and helping with staff meetings.
Those are tasks that can’t be undertaken by someone else.
But what others don’t see are the times Reed went beyond her job requirements. These are the things that make her irreplaceable in the newsroom. What the university didn’t consider when dissolving her position was the photos on her wall of Lariateers past and present, the fidget toys she passed around when she noticed someone’s anxiety, the couch that was always available to sit on, the endearing clutter of trinkets and boxes that made her office homey and safe.
What wasn’t visible were the hugs she gave unsparingly, the encouragement she delivered in abundance, the advice she gave that unapologetically exceeded the realms of student journalism. What will be missed is not the markups on the weekly paper that inspired us to reach our full potential, though those were appreciated.
What will be missed is the assurance that, despite the stress of our lives, there was an office a few feet away where we could find solidarity, rest and a woman sitting in her office chair who would believe in us and our abilities even when we didn’t believe in them ourselves. That is what can’t be replaced.
There are 40 Julie Reeds who will no longer be there to go above and beyond their job descriptions. There are nearly 20,000 students who face the possibility of their own Julie Reed leaving. These are the people who make Baylor what it is, far more than its Research 1 status, traditions or athletics. Baylor is a conglomeration of Julie Reeds — people who chose to spend their lives teaching and encouraging the next generation of workers.
Without the Julie Reeds, who will we become? What is Baylor without the faculty and staff members who see their job not as a paycheck, but as a calling? Those are the ones who will continue to be affected by budget cuts.
While Baylor stows away money by increasing tuition and cutting essential employees, departments across campus are bearing the burden. It reached Baylor Student Media. It will reach other corners of campus, too.
