TCU chancellor didn’t tell the whole story about faculty cuts. Here’s what we’ve lost

TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini has done an admirable job of building the university’s national profile in his 18 years of service. But in his interview with the Star-Telegram last week, he didn’t paint the full picture about budget cuts and changes to the university’s academic enterprise. As members of TCU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, we want to set the record straight.

While the 30% cut to our retirements stung, costing us each thousands of dollars in our annual compensation, the larger issue is that faculty and staff have been asked to bear the brunt of deep cuts to the academic mission. Boschini said “we didn’t release one freakin’ person from TCU” last year, but he neglected to mention that the university eliminated 6% of full-time faculty positions for the upcoming year. These are largely going unfilled after 27 professors took early retirement incentives and while lecturers on year-to-year contracts were not renewed.

We all know faculty and staff colleagues who have worked at TCU for years who are being let go in May, not to be replaced, with the rest of us left to take on their duties. The library, the academic heart of the university, has lost almost 20% of its staff and more than half of its book budget.

And while it may be true that TCU lost $50 million last year, we also ran an average budget surplus of $104 million a year from 2010-19, according to TCU’s Form 990 filings with the IRS. Last year, the chancellor justified turning down $5.4 million in CARES Act relief by saying we were a rich school. We unveiled a $113 million addition of luxury suites to the football stadium last summer, and the university trumpeted $677 million raised for the endowment in the fall.

Yet at the same time, the university cut $20 million from the academic affairs budget. A university with our resources should not be eliminating faculty and staff jobs, cutting our compensation, and gutting valuable academic resources such as the library.

We were thrilled to hear Boschini say that TCU is “not going to reduce tenured positions.” Indeed, tenured faculty play an important role in the culture and community of a university, as our pursuit of scholarship directly affects the quality of instruction that we offer students.

But so far, most retiring tenured professors are not being replaced. On the rare occasions that they have been replaced, it has largely been with visiting one-year positions or untenured instructors. In recent years when a tenured full professor has retired, we have often been told to replace that person with an instructor not eligible for tenure. Otherwise, our campus would lose the faculty position entirely.

TCU has weathered challenging times in the past, and we should be positioned to take on new challenges in the years ahead. Boschini deserves much credit for our current position and our direction. But he should be honest about the cuts to the academic mission of the university.

TCU’s long-term strategic plan lists strengthening the academic profile and reputation of the university as our first action item. Cutting full-time faculty and staff positions while adding 1,000 new students is not an acceptable way to achieve this goal.

TCU is a success story not just because of our football program. As faculty members, we have dedicated years of our lives to serving students and the TCU community.

Our mission is “to educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community.” It guides our work every day. We ask that Boschini and the board of trustees show a similar commitment to us by telling the truth and fully funding our academic mission.

Jason Helms is an associate professor of English at TCU. Santiago Pinon is an associate professor of religion. Rebecca Sharpless is a professor of history. Daxton Stewart is a professor of journalism. They are officers of the TCU chapter of the American Association of University Professors.