Stop the Cuts at Flint and Dearborn, Steven Toth's Statement at the Regents' Meeting, 9.17.20

LEO Flint Campus Chair Steven Toth delivered the below remarks during public comment at the UM Board of Regents’ Meeting on September 17, 2020.

Hello, my name is Steven Toth. I am a lecturer in Chemistry on the Flint campus and LEO's elected Flint Campus Chair. I am here today to ask President Schlissel, the Board, and the Chancellors to take steps to reverse the painful austerity cuts made since the onset of Covid that have seriously affected my coworkers and students. At UM-Flint, I have found a career where I am able to form deep connections with my students, and they inspire me every day.  I love my job, and am proud to belong to a cohort of hard-working, dedicated lecturer faculty. As in Dearborn, we teach the majority of credit hours on campus for the lowest pay.

Both Dearborn and Flint have suffered greatly this past year from austerity cuts. Over 40% of Flint lecturers and 24% of Dearborn lecturers have had some type of layoff since May. On both campuses, the layoffs have meant fewer sections, and fewer options for students to enroll in. My department, Chemistry, is offering fewer sections of our freshman chemistry lab section than previous years, despite healthy, even robust enrollment.  As these fewer sections filled up, we had to turn students away.  In my chem for non-science majors’ class, a second section wasn’t offered even though I had many students on the waitlist.  These students will likely take these classes elsewhere- like at Mott Community College. We therefore lose the opportunity to build relationships with students that we know improves learning outcomes and retention.  In addition, the lost tuition will harm the long-term stability of the University.

At Dearborn, entire programs have shut down, like applied music, despite  healthy enrollments in some classes even after the switch to remote instruction. These cuts will damage the long-term stability of Dearborn as well.

Staff at UM Flint have faced similar cuts and layoffs for administrative assistants, lab coordinators, and janitorial staff.  In the  Natural Sciences, the lab staff were cut nearly in half, including the elimination of all physics support staff.  The College of Arts and Sciences has only 9 administrative assistants, down from 14 last year.  These losses undermine communication, organization, and workplace safety.  Provost Collins mentioned about an hour ago about the importance of our staff members during these unprecedented times.  I agree- let’s stop laying them off.

Finally, as a proud supporter of the 1U campaign, I congratulate the Board for allocating an additional $20 million to Dearborn and Flint in June. I look forward to working with you to make sure this investment is ongoing. Yet I have learned that the separate grant of $3.6 million allocated to academic advising in February 2020 by President Schlissel is now being counted as part of the $20 million shared fund. If true, that is a serious misstep and will cause real harm to a campus already reeling from an austerity budget model. 

Let us not forget that the university’s greatest investment is in its faculty and students. Losing so many long-serving lecturers at Dearborn and Flint, who have built great connections within their departments and the student body, are the most harmful thing for our campus. This university is too wealthy to argue that these cuts were necessary. This university can afford to do better.