The University of Texas at Austin and Emerson College have recently announced staff layoffs due to declining enrollment numbers and internal crises linked to reputational damage sustained during the recent wave of nationwide campus protests.
UT Austin on Monday laid off about a quarter of its communications staff, or about 20 people, and is pivoting its strategy on how it handles public relations, KUT reports.
“[N]ow, more than ever, it is critical for our central marketing and communications function to focus intently on managing reputational issues and crises,” Emily Reagan, vice president and chief communications officer, wrote in a June 3 email to employees. “It has become clear that we need greater strength in crisis communications, and the crises we have faced have made it difficult to invest properly in our brand, impact and long-run reputation.”
Moreover, the university will outsource communications to a private company, CBS Austin reports, and search for a new vice president of communications who can “manag[e] issues and crises at the top,” Reagan wrote.
The University of Texas at Austin has doled out some of the stiffest punishments against Pro-Palestine activists and encampments, arresting or detaining more than 130 students and other protestors, The New York Times reports.
While university communications didn’t mention the protests outright as a reason for the layoffs, its clear-cut stance against campus demonstrations, led largely by the guidance of Gov. Greg Abbott, has drawn public condemnation and mired the institution in unclear, often contradictory disciplinary policies surrounding student protestors.
More from UB: Survey suggests employers punish protestors, toss out job offers
Similarly, Emerson College announced on Tuesday it was laying off an unspecified amount of staff and eliminating positions in fiscal year 2025 due to fall freshman enrollment falling “significantly below” projections. In tandem with the series of hardships small private colleges already face, President Jay Bernhardt blames student protests for the tough decision, The Boston Globe reports.
Boston police arrested over 110 protestors near Emerson in April following mass demonstrations and student encampments, WBUR reports.
“We attribute this reduction to multiple factors, including national enrollment trends away from smaller private institutions, an enrollment deposit delay in response to the new FAFSA rollout, student protests targeting our yield events and campus tours, and negative press and social media generated from the demonstrations and arrests,” Bernhardt wrote to the Globe.
However, Illona Yosefov, an instructional technologist and staff union member at Emerson, told the Globe she believes the university is using the recent demonstrations as a scapegoat. “It feels like exploiting the situation to do whatever you want.”
Other institutions that have recently announced staff layoffs due to declining enrollment and swelling budget deficits include:
- Pennsylvania State University Commonwealth Campuses: 10% of its employees accepted voluntary buyouts
- University of New Hampshire: 75 employees
- Columbia College: 70 staff, including administrative positions
- Concordia University Wisconsin: 24 employees laid off beginning May 31
- University of Southern Maine: Unspecified amount of employees, including management positions. Enrollment is down 10% over the past decade.
