What can Canisius learn from other universities?
By: Sydney Umstead, News Editor
Canisius announced that it will be forming a task force to work together to cut $15 million from the budget amid increasing questions about faculty pay along with a change in workload, while also rolling out a new scholarship that offers free tuition for those who meet the requirements.
Canisius is not the first private Jesuit university to suffer financially in recent years, and their issues have been plaguing the institution since the alleged $20 million deficit that was reported in 2020 by The Buffalo News.
Presently, The Business Journal reports that Canisius is operating at a $7 million deficit. The institution only saw 400 incoming students at the beginning of the 2024 school year, according to the AAUP letter that The Griffin reported on in its Oct. 4 edition.
Wheeling University (formerly Wheeling Jesuit University)
One Jesuit university in West Virginia decided the way to diminish its debt would be to dramatically shrink its humanities department. Inside Higher Ed reported that by 2019, Wheeling Jesuit University, the youngest Jesuit institution, had declared financial exigency, meaning there was an “imminent financial crisis which threaten[ed] the survival of the institution as a whole,” as defined by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
Wheeling University’s 990 form shows it had a negative net income of $2,800,265 in 2019 when it announced financial exigency. As of 2023, Canisius has a negative net income of $4,645,502. However, Wheeling Jesuit University had a revenue of $36,462,720 in 2019 whereas Canisius had a generated revenue of $99.9 million in 2023.
Further, two years prior to Wheeling’s cuts, Inside Higher Ed reported that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston had taken control over the physical campus but had “agreed to lease it back to the university for just $2,418 per month.”
Wheeling removed several courses and tenured faculty members. These courses and staff members were part of departments such as theology, philosophy and literature, which are seen as pillars of what is taught at a Jesuit institution.
Inside Higher Ed stated that “Jesuit colleges and universities such as the College of the Holy Cross, Georgetown University and Gonzaga University are also known for rigorous liberal arts programs, with an emphasis on fields such as philosophy.”
2019 was the last year that the school would hold its title as a Jesuit institution. In a statement from the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus – which had cut off Wheeling from its Jesuit status – it explained that because of these department cuts, “the Jesuit affiliation of the university will not be able to continue.” Wheeling Jesuit University is now Wheeling University.
Medaille University
Higher Ed Dive reported that Medaille had been suffering financially for years and “declining enrollment plagued the university over the past decade, with its student body plummeting from almost 2,600 students in fall 2012 to around 1,800 students in fall 2021.” Similar to the cuts that occurred at Canisius in 2020, “Medaille dramatically cut its staff and programming and retracted tenure through a rewrite of its faculty handbook.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on these cuts, quoting the former president of Medaille University, Kenneth Macur, who said the institution was surviving “paycheck to paycheck.”
Medaille closed its doors on August 31, 2023, with their last commencement being held in May of that year.
That came two years after Medaille had made the transition into a university, which is granted based on accreditation and graduate programs that are available to students. Medaille had been accredited by the Middle States, which Canisius is re-eligible for currently. Canisius’ accreditation ended on Sept. 1, 2023, after Medaille shut down.
Medaille had built a sports complex in an attempt to bring in new students which WGRZ2 reported may have been its demise, according to accreditors.
There has been no formal announcement as to what will be cut in order to diminish the budget at Canisius by $15 million, and when asked, Stoute stated in the conversation with The Griffin that there is not yet a formal plan for these cuts.
Canisius University
Presently at Canisius, there are concerns that the $15 million cut from the budget will impact the departments that recently removed staff members were a part of, similarly to what occurred in 2020. Faculty will be holding a teach-in on Oct. 25 in lieu of these events and pay discrepancies.
The AAUP Press Release for the picket and teach-in states, “When you de-prioritize faculty, you de-prioritize student learning.” In response to the $15 million cut from the budget, the press release states, “Such drastic cuts threaten not only the quality of education that students receive, but also the Jesuit identity of the university and, indeed, the very existence of Canisius.”
In 2020, when Canisius’ deficit was reported by The Buffalo News, former Canisius president John Hurley had removed tenured professors from departments such as philosophy and religious studies. Four of the 25 professors who were laid off later sued the college.
Though the cuts were upheld in 2023 by State Supreme Justice Emilio Colaiacovo, according to The Buffalo News, the professors appealed and the AAUP filed an amicus brief in support of them which was filed in March of 2024. This case is ongoing.
The American Historical Association (AHA) condemned Canisius for this decision in a letter to Hurley and the Board of Trustees. They wrote, “The American Historical Association expresses grave concern about the dramatic restructuring of academic departments and program prioritization officially announced by Canisius College on July 20, 2020, including drastic reduction of the curriculum in history.” Furthermore, “The AHA has seen this approach to prioritization and restructuring before, and the results have not been impressive.”
In an article from WGRZ2, Hurley claimed that he had worked with the Faculty Senate, the Senate's Executive Committee, and the Senate's representatives to create the College Budget Committee. However, this was done without a declaration of financial exigency, which is needed in order to remove tenured professors- according to the Canisius Faculty Handbook. Hurley also went on record to say that it “would be a very lengthy, lengthy process and we're just not going to pursue that,” when asked about declaring exigency.
In the AAUP release from Oct. 18, they write that the management decisions made by Canisius have historically “shown that they do not appreciate the value of a Jesuit, liberal arts education.”
In the State of the University address last year, Stoute said that the financial state of the university had a deficit of $8.5 million, after an anticipated deficit of $7.4 million. Stoute stated, “Our plan is to eat this elephant one bite at a time.” He also emphasized that while there will be difficult decisions, “We have to do this together.”
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