Office of the President
June 14, 2021


Dear William Paterson Faculty and Staff,

This is going to be a tough week here at William Paterson. It will be most difficult, of course, for the AFT faculty and staff and the higher ed managers whose positions are being eliminated as we work to make the University more financially secure and sustainable. These directly affected people are being notified, including about next steps and other matters, during today and tomorrow.

The impact of the loss will extend to our entire community. Those who will be leaving us are our colleagues and friends. They have made valuable contributions to William Paterson and helped change the lives of our students for the better. They will be greatly missed. Nothing I can say will change that. However, as we have done throughout the year in campus forums and other communications, I would like to summarize how we got to this place, where layoffs have become necessary, and to map our path forward to ensure that these and other changes, like the closing of low-enrolled programs, position us for future growth.

Looking at the big picture, there are several trends that have been building, some for decades, all well before the 15 months of pandemic disruption we now confront:

  • A decade-long decline in overall WP student headcount and attendant revenue, coupled with a long-term relative increase in the number of faculty, as illustrated by the chart below:

  • A decline in residence life occupancy and corresponding revenue drop, as illustrated in the chart below:
All of which occurred against a backdrop of declining State support, which had to be offset by increases in tuition and fees, as illustrated in the chart below:
While the pandemic has certainly accelerated the decline in enrollment and the associated loss of tuition, fee, and residence hall revenues, the underlying trends were already deeply entrenched. That is why I first mentioned the potential need for layoffs a year and a half ago, while committing to do everything possible to avoid them. I am confident that we have done that, along with minimizing the number of affected positions, once it became clear that some layoffs were unavoidable. So, while current and anticipated federal and state relief is important for our students and current University operations, it does not address the underlying structural problems that need fixing if we are to get on a more sustainable path. 

Of course, that is the reason we are taking these difficult steps. The work we do to educate William Paterson students is incredibly important. In order to keep doing it as successfully as we have, we need to better align costs with revenues. And we need to do it without significant tuition increases, which would hurt the population of students we serve. When we do achieve that alignment, we will be better positioned to invest in new programs and resources, which will enable us to grow and better serve more students. In doing so, we will ensure that the positions and programs we are losing are not lost in vain. Instead, they will help prepare William Paterson for a brighter future.

Retention will continue to be central to this effort. Currently, we lose some 2,000 students, annually. That amounts to approximately 20% of our enrollment, which translates to approximately $22 million in lost revenue, annually, and as much as $88 million over the four years those students would otherwise be with us. We made progress during the 2019-2020 academic year with the launch of Will. Power. 101 and other successful initiatives, but the pandemic has taken its toll. Improving retention continues to be everyone’s job. It is important for the students, and it’s critical to our financial future. It will save jobs and help us avoid having to make these kinds of drastic choices in the future. 

The loss of positions will naturally raise many questions beyond the core one of who is directly impacted, including how job responsibilities will be handled moving forward. Please be assured that these and other practical concerns will be addressed in the coming days at the department level, as needed. In deference to those who are being notified, I am withholding the final number of positions affected until I communicate with you again, on Wednesday. Please also bear in mind that for any CWA and IFTE layoffs, employees will be given notice in the fall, with the number depending on our enrollment and revenue situation at the time.

Thank you all for your continued engagement with this difficult but necessary process. The questions you have asked and the concerns you have raised at Town Halls and in other forums have helped ensure that we do this the right way. I am very sorry that we have reached this point. It pains me to lose good people, but I am determined to ensure that William Paterson fulfills its pledge to our students by continuing to provide them with the education they need to achieve their goals in life. To do that, the University needs to align revenues with costs so we can put the institution on a sustainable path toward growth. Unfortunately, that does mean laying off people and eliminating positions.  

I am confident that we will emerge from this process better positioned for the future. As we do, we will continue to confront our challenges in the same way that we celebrate our successes – together, as a mutually supportive community of educators and professionals.
Sincerely,

Richard J. Helldobler, Ph.D.
President
Office of the President | 973.720.2222 | president@wpunj.edu