Seabury-Western announces faculty and staff cutbacks

Nine staff members to lose their jobs; Faculty given one year termination notice

Michael Barwell/David Skidmore

4/24/08

The trustees of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston today declared that the Episcopal seminary “is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution” and has given notice to all faculty that employment will end on June 30, 2009. The school also eliminated nine staff positions. The final date of employment for most of these staff will be May 23 – a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

The trustees of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston have declared that the Episcopal seminary “is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution” and notified all faculty that employment will end on June 30, 2009. The school also eliminated nine staff positions. The final date of employment for most of these staff will be May 23 – a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

The decision was the outcome of a special board meeting April 24 in which the trustees were presented with recommendations by a committee charged with reviewing the seminary’s finances. In February, the board was informed that income from tuition, fees, and endowment resources would be insufficient to overcome an ongoing deficit of nearly $500,000 per year. The seminary currently has an estimated $2.9 million in accumulated debt—likely to climb to $3.5 million later this year because of transition costs. The board ordered a financial plan that brings expenses in line with revenues.

“This is an especially painful and difficult decision to make and announce,” said the seminary’s dean and president, Gary Hall. “However, it became clear during the past 18 months that the seminary’s endowment and other income sources are not capable of sustaining a traditional residential seminary program.

“At its heart, Seabury will always be a school in service of the mission of God as proclaimed and enacted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Hall said. “We simply cannot sustain our mission with limited resources and by using a traditional model of ministry education.”

Immediately following the April 24 meeting, board members met with students, staff and faculty of Seabury-Western to hear their concerns and answer questions. The board also announced that Assistant Professor Frank Yamada had been granted tenure. Yamada has been on the faculty of Seabury-Western as assistant professor of Hebrew Bible since 1999.

Students and board members characterized the session as one of grief balanced with appreciation for the talent and dedication of the staff and faculty. Though few were surprised by the news of cutbacks, they still were profoundly saddened by the prospect of losing friends and mentors. "I think that the board made decisions that we kenw were coming," said Kristin White, convener of the community council, the Seabury-Western student body. "[Dean] Gary [Hall] has been very transparent in letting us know what the process was. While it wasn't a surprise, it was still deeply, deeply sad for this community."

White, who is a middler finishing her second year toward a Master of Divinity (MDiv), said the session gave students, staff and faculty the opportunity to learn more about the board's decision making process, and gave board members the chance "to live the responsibility" of their decision.

White has hope for Seabury's future but realizes the path for securing it is a long one. "While I am hopeful and I believe this body is hopeful for what the future holds for Seabury, we're not there yet," she said. "So we are acknowledging the reality that is very sobering right now."

White and most of the other MDiv. students will continue to graduation at Seabury, taking courses on campus from Seabury faculty during the fall 2008 and winter 2009 terms. After graduation in May 2009 she will return to her home diocese of Oregon to pursue her calling.

High costs and static enrollment are also concern for other seminaries

In February the board suspended admissions recruitment for its three-year residential master of divinity (MDiv) program, its master in theological studies (MTS), two doctor of ministry (DMin) and certificate programs. Students currently enrolled in the MDiv and DMin programs will be allowed to finish their degrees at Seabury. Some courses may be taken at other Chicago-area seminaries.

Seabury is not alone among the Episcopal Church’s 11 seminaries in facing financial challenges. In recent months Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, and Bexley Hall Seminary in Rochester, NY, announced decisions to sell property or consolidate operations in order to continue offering similar programs. Bexley Hall is consolidating its remaining program and students to Columbus, OH, where it will continue its MDiv program with Trinity Lutheran Seminary. EDS announced last month that it has sold some of its campus to Lesley University in order to remain in Cambridge.

All Episcopal and other mainline seminaries have faced rising costs and stagnant or declining enrollments for the past 30 years while higher education costs have accelerated. At Seabury, tuition is $13,000 while the actual cost per student has risen to more than $50,000. Sustaining that $37,000 expenditure gap over a period of more than two decades exhausted the seminary’s resources despite an increase in alumni/ae and other giving during the past few years.

In 2006 the board began a strategic planning process to identify ways to respond effectively to the shifts in the seminary market. Last October the case statement estimated at least $10 million would be needed to eliminate the current debt load and increase the endowment, while $8.7 million could be targeted program development and campus renovation to support any new programs. The $18.7 million goal significantly exceeded Seabury’s fundraising capabilities.

Declaring financial exigency – the technical term for determining a financial crisis that threatens the survival of the institution—allows the trustees to end faculty tenure and terminate faculty positions, resulting in immediate and long-term savings. Faculty will be given one year’s notice that their positions will end effective June 30, 2009. They will receive full salary and benefits in the 2008-2009 academic year and teach a reduced course load so that they have opportunity to search for a new position. Staff will have separation benefits that include severance pay, payment for unused vacation, continuation of health benefits, unemployment benefits, and career counseling. Nine of the 30 staff positions are being eliminated. These include: the admissions director, communications director, chaplain, academic affairs assistant, admissions coordinator, public and community relations coordinator, advancement officer, receptionist, and manager of the seminary's bookstore, The Bookshelf.

“Faculty understand the precarious financial situation of the seminary and have appreciated being consulted in the decisions leading to the board’s declaration of exigency,” said Dr. Ruth A. Meyers, academic dean and professor of liturgics. “While there is a range of emotion as they face an uncertain future, there is also tremendous good will and support for one another, for students and staff, and for the institution.” “Our primary work right now is caring for the people in the Seabury community whose lives are being dramatically disrupted,” Dean Hall said. “While we need to look to what Seabury might become in the future, we have focused almost all of our energies on the immediate concerns facing those around us.”

“Seabury is an amazing community, and this process is extraordinarily difficult for all of us involved,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Butler, vice president for advancement and administration. “While we understand the necessity of dismantling the current structure of our beloved institution, the reality of doing so causes profound grief on so many levels. It is difficult to have to say goodbye to faculty and staff.”

Salme Harju Steinberg, chair of the Board of Trustees, said the board members were impressed with the concern shown by students for the seminary’s staff and faculty during a community session April 24 following the special board meeting. “This was an unavoidable step that we are taking right now, but there is a real sense too that it is not over for Seabury,” she said. “From this will come a way to renew a sense of vision for what our role in theological education is going to be in the years ahead.”

The board is looking into having an outplacement service come to the seminary to assist staff and faculty with job searches, she said, noting that each trustee has the resume of one of the staff being laid off, and will be using their networks and contacts to setup job interviews for them. “Looking out for people right now in the community, this is the first step before we move on to imagining and building what we may become in the future,” she said.

At the same time the trustees have wrestled with controlling costs, they also have investigated future program options, including merging with another institution, offering non-residential programs, and distance learning.

The administration is optimistic that it can resume offering the doctoral programs in preaching and congregational development that have been a hallmark of Seabury for many years. The trustees plan to focus on future plans during the coming months.