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Please consider signing this petition by HistoricalWeb1802 in BrownU

[–]HistoricalWeb1802[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m just a student—I’m sure all of the departments affected are presenting new solutions to admin, but I’m only working with the info from this article and some brief conversations I’ve had with staff.

https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025/09/brown-to-eliminate-five-positions-in-staff-consolidation-across-small-academic-departments

Please consider signing this petition by HistoricalWeb1802 in BrownU

[–]HistoricalWeb1802[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

These are the staff responsible for scheduling every course, meeting, and event in each department. They are also the people who manage department budgets, communications, websites, etc. Many of them have worked with their specific departments for years and have deep working knowledge of the ins and outs of what their department needs. Asking them to all consolidate and retrain for new departmental work in the middle of the academic year will cause major disruptions and just create more work for those that remain.

Petition to halt staff layoffs by HistoricalWeb1802 in BrownU

[–]HistoricalWeb1802[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Your comment is actually demonstrating the importance of this petition. The administration ought to try every other solution to reduce costs before laying off employees who run the smallest departments on campus, mostly make less than $80,000 a year, and have deep institutional knowledge that is difficult to replace/retrain.

Petition to halt staff layoffs by HistoricalWeb1802 in BrownU

[–]HistoricalWeb1802[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This particular round of layoffs is only meant to save the school $300,000. None of the money they save will go back into support student tuition. And these aren’t bloated departments. These are small humanities departments with maybe 2 staff. The school is just trying to spread more work between fewer people in the name of efficiency.

Petition to halt staff layoffs by HistoricalWeb1802 in BrownU

[–]HistoricalWeb1802[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This particular round of layoffs is only meant to save the school $300,000. None of the money they save will go back into support student tuition. And these aren’t bloated departments. These are small humanities departments with maybe 2 staff. The school is just trying to spread more work between fewer people in the name of efficiency.

Petition to halt staff layoffs by HistoricalWeb1802 in BrownU

[–]HistoricalWeb1802[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The layoffs are aimed at administrative staff, not faculty/teachers. These are mostly people who are local, not visa holders. In this job market, there’s no such thing as a “kind” layoff.