Having seen enrollment dive by 20 percent since 2021 and looking to bridge a $48 million budget deficit, The New School has reduced its workforce by 87 people.
In a message to The New School community Thursday, President Joel Towers said that the affected 68 staffers and 19 faculty members were “involuntary separation notifications.” That tally accounts for approximately 6 percent of each group, which Towers described as a reduction “that is reasonably balanced between faculty and staff and commensurate with our overall decline in enrollment.”
Earlier this week, the school’s chapter of American Association of University Professors, known as “AAUP TNS,” and the New School Economics Student Union posted statements in opposition to the cuts.
In its “Condemnation of Mass Firings,” the AAUP TNS suggested that the administration “has never shared clear criteria for the closure of academic programs that has enabled some of these dismissals, they have offered no rationale for the elimination of specific faculty positions.” The group wrote, “Many appear to be politically motivated and retaliatory. Several fired faculty work in programs that have not been closed or even marked for redesign, and were thus blindsided by firings. Even faculty in programs central to the university’s restructuring including those whose proposals for new programs had just been green-lit have been fired.”
A report in The New School Free Press said that many of those laid off are tenured, and several are the most prominent critics of the school’s restructuring, including Sanjay Reddy, an economics professor at NSSR. He did not respond immediately Friday to a request for comment.
The 19 laid-off faculty members reportedly teach at the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and the New School for Social Research, according to the AAUP TNS Worker Solidarity Committee. Sixteen of those individuals are said to belong to Local 1205, the union representing library and clerical staff at the university. A media request to Local 1205 was unreturned Friday.
After this article posted, a school representative claimed that the 16 Local 1205 members were among the 68 staffer layoffs.
Describing the daily challenges as being “long in the making, both here at home and across higher education more broadly,” Towers noted that enrollment at The New School has declined since its peak in 2021 by 20 percent, which had created a cumulative structural budget deficit of more than $160 million. Last month in an interview, Towers told The New School Free Press that the budget deficit was nearly $60 million.
On Thursday, Towers noted that New School is shifting from four colleges to two, reshaping its academic portfolio, creating “a leaner, more adaptable operating structure,” and adjusting its real estate portfolio to meet the needs of students and size of the campus community. Towers said that faculty and staff levels were being aligned with enrollment, “budget realities, and the needs of our new structure.” The student body is comprised of approximately 8,300 undergraduate and graduate students. In 2027, Parsons, Mannes, Jazz, and Drama will represent almost 80 percent of New School students while the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and New School for Social Research will make up approximately 20 percent of the student population.
Towers said that 30 full-time faculty members were placed in teaching positions in other parts of the university. Those individuals were not any of the 87 impacted employees. In addition, vacant positions were eliminated, a hiring freeze was put in place, and “generous” voluntary separation and retirement programs were offered, he said. The fiscal year 2027 operating budget has been reduced by approximately 15 percent, Towers said in his memo.
“While the number of layoffs is not as large as it might have been without voluntary programs and other cost-savings measures, that does not minimize the impact of job eliminations on the individuals who are affected, their families, and those who will remain and feel their absence,” he wrote.
In recent months, tensions have been building among students and faculty about the proposed cuts. In March, more than 100 faculty members, staffers and students marched to deliver a letter to Towers in opposition to the planned restructuring that was signed by 1,000 supporters. In December, hundreds protested outside on West 12th Street, during a board meeting to voice their concerns over budget cuts. Posters imprinted with an image of Towers and multiple lines of “NOT MY PRESIDENT” were posted at that time.
Parsons has groomed many fashion careers with designers like Donna Karan, Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs and Tracey Reese having been students there at one time.
