Education

Evergreen State Is Cutting Tons Of Staff Because No One Wants To Attend The School Anymore

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The Evergreen State College is cutting dozens of faculty and staff positions, according to a Tuesday announcement it sent to employees.

The Washington state school is cutting 24 faculty positions, some of which were occupied by adjunct professors, and striking 19 vacant staff capacities, reported Campus Reform.

“Over the past several days, 20 staff members have been notified that they are at risk for layoff,” wrote John Carmichael, Evergreen board of trustees’ secretary and president’s chief of staff, in an email obtained by Campus Reform. “These layoffs, although necessary to stabilize the college’s budget, represent a profound loss felt by many.”

The college previously announced it would be trimming $5.9 million from its operating budget, a decrease of over 10 percent, according to The Olympian.

These budget and staffing cuts come about a year after Evergreen students took over campus buildings in highly publicized riots, demanding, among other items, that Professor Bret Weinstein resign for not taking part in the school’s “Day of Absence” event in which white school members were expected to leave campus for a day.

Evergreen might have received up to 20 percent fewer applications after the riots, according to the report The Olympian cited.

“As painful as it is to lose valued colleagues, we know that we must take dramatic steps to stabilize the budget,” Carmichael continued. “These steps, along with the re-organization of senior leadership positions and fee changes previously announced, will stabilize the budget.”

The administrator noted the school will cut back on items like experimental theater productions, staff support in a couple of departments and in-house repairs by its computing and communications department.

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