In light of tough financial times for the 14 Pennsylvania Association of Higher Education (PASSHE) schools, Mansfield University announced the possibility of faculty layoffs at the end of the 2017-18 academic year.

PASSHE management delivered a letter of intent for retrenchment to Mansfield’s Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) office last Tuesday at the end of a meet-and-discuss session, according to an APSCUF press release. The letter did not reveal which academic programs may be affected by the layoffs.

“We know from a State System study that students were attending our universities primarily because of academic offerings and the relatively low cost,” said APSCUF President Kenneth Mash in the press release. “Meanwhile, costs have continued to soar, which continues to shut working families out of the American Dream.”

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, per-student funding for Pennsylvania’s public colleges and universities went down 33 percent from where it was in 2008.

“Mansfield University is doing what it is required to do under the terms of the faculty contract,” said Kenn Marshall, PASSHE media relations manager. “Our students’ needs must always come first, but we also are concerned about the impact these actions could have on our outstanding faculty, both professionally and personally.”

Marshall said 76 retrenchments were issued by seven PASSHE schools between 2010 and 2016. Out of this number, only nine faculty members are no longer employed by PASSHE, according to Marshall. Two of these individuals volunteered for retrenchment and were hired by non-PASSHE universities.

“These actions point squarely to the fact that the State System desperately needs additional funds to operate effectively,” Mash said. “If we continue down this road, our policy-makers will have to just admit that they choose to turn their back on a generation and do lasting damage to the Commonwealth.”

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