Sept 5, 2018

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The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University

Volume XCVIII | Est. 1929 | www.sjuhawknews.com

Sept. 5, 2018

Restructuring leads to layoffs ANA FAGUY ’19 Editor in Chief

A student bows her head during the closing blessing at mass in the Chapel of Saint Joseph on Sept. 2 (Photo by Luke Malanga ’20).

St. Joe’s reacts to priest abuse ALEX MARK ’20 News Editor The Pennsylvania grand jury released a report revealing decades of sexual abuse of minors by more than 300 Catholic priests in parishes across the state on Aug. 14. Just over a week later, University President Mark C. Reed, Ed.D., released a statement in response to the report via email. “First and above all else, our thoughts

LUKE MALANGA ’20 Managing Editor

and hearts are with the victims of such abuse. We grieve for and with them and pledge our support for their healing and peace,” Reed stated in the email. “I cannot underscore enough that we will not tolerate abuse in any form on our campus.” Daniel Joyce, S.J., executive director of missions programs, said that, to him, when it comes to the safety and protection

of children, there is no room for error. “My faith or confidence in some of the Catholic Church leaders mentioned in the report is zero,” Joyce said in an email to The Hawk. “I do not envy people who have to make hard personnel decisions and figure out the truth in complicated situations.” CONTINUED ON PG. 4

Current state of OID Office of Inclusion and Diversity seeks new leader NATALIE DRUM ’20 Assistant News Editor

Monica Nixon, Ed. D., stepped down from her position as St. Joe’s assistant provost for inclusion and diversity due to personal reasons, during the third week of July. With the departure of Nixon, many changes in leadership have and will continue to happen within the Office of Inclusion and Diversity. “Besides being a woman, I would not be considered part of an unrepresented group and I acknowledge that is a limitation,” said Kim Allen-Stuck, Ph.D., assistant vice president of student success and educational support. “But I like to think that my commitment to this type of work over my whole career is enough to get us through.” Allen-Stuck and Janée Burkhalter, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing, have temporarily taken on Nixon’s responsibilities while a provost search is conducted. “Monica was a full time person doing a full time job,” Allen-Stuck said. “I am chairing the climate study working group that now

Janée is a part of and Janée is sharing the President’s Council for Inclusion and Diversity that I am now a part of.” According to Allen-Stuck, for the remainder of the year Burkhalter will assume the role of special assistant to the provost for inclusion and diversity, while also being a faculty member.

“Between the two of us and the other great people we work with we will be covering the areas for the year with the intent that this job will be filled for next year,” Allen-Stuck said, mentioning that there are other areas of turnover and committee leadership positions changing. CONTINUED ON PG. 4

The university laid off at least 20 people in the days that followed the 2018 Commencement, citing efforts to restructure the upcoming year’s budget. “They did good work here,” said Joseph Kender, vice president of University Relations, in a June interview with The Hawk. “We just need something different. All of this is being done so we can deliver a better experience going forward.” The layoffs spanned offices across the university, including Student Leadership and Activities, Student Success, Academic Technology and Distributed Learning (ATDL), Marketing Communications and the Library. One of the most notable layoffs was the position of assistant vice president for student development and Title IX Coordinator, previously held by Mary Elaine Perry Ph.D. Perry now holds the title of Title IX Coordinator. Some of the vacated positions were restaffed over the summer and some were not. Others were restructured and responsibilities were re-assigned to existing positions. While, other positions were eliminated all together. One of the units most impacted was Student Leadership and Activities. Cary Anderson Ed.D., vice president of Student Life said the layoffs were made to improve student support, with the hope that the reorganization would not cause much disruption. “Specific positions were identified for elimination for a variety of reasons, such as positions that were open due to people having voluntarily left the university, redundancy of responsibilities, opportunity to improve efficiencies and the like,” Anderson said. “A number of new positions were also created in order to meet our goals and most of those were filled over the summer.” According to Anderson, the impact of the changes will be evaluated over the course of the semester. “If there is a legitimate need to do something, then we will shift things around to address that need,” he said. While most of the cuts involved staff positions, the sudden changes at the end of the school year have faculty concerned about what this means in a broader sense for Hawk Hill. Faculty senate president, Ronald Dufresne, Ph.D., said he is worried about the consequences of the restructuring and how some colleagues may have to pick up more work. “Let’s not just think of the short term,” he said. “We also have to look at the sustainability of ensuring that our colleagues are physically able to serve [other] colleagues in the way they need to be served.”

CONTINUED ON PG. 4

Imani Briscoe ’17 working in the Center of Inclusion and Diversity (Photo by Matt Barrett ’21).


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