Amid staff layoffs and cuts to the University’s budget, Student Life spoke to a few faculty members about how comfortable they are speaking about administrative decisions. We reached out to seven professors of varying titles and of the three professors who agreed to interview, all were tenured.

All three professors who agreed to interview said that their level of comfort with voicing opinions about the administration can be attributed to their tenure standing. 

Professor of History and of African & African American Studies Timothy Parsons has been with the University since 1996. He said that he has seen faculty express discontent with the administration in his time at WashU. 

Parsons said that for the most part, it is tenured faculty like himself that speak up.

“You’re always going to run into that level of nervousness in getting junior people to speak,” Parsons said. “My junior colleagues are anxious.”

Rebecca Lester, a tenured professor in the Anthropology department and current Assistant Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs and Diversity, has been at the University for 23 years. 

Throughout her time at the University, Lester said she has witnessed faculty members’ continuous calls for more information regarding decisions made by the administration resulting in an increase in transparency.

“We always want more information than we’re getting, but I also understand from the administrative point of view why they are careful with the information that they give out,” Lester said. “There’s been so much push from the faculty to show us how the sausage is made…it’s gotten more transparent, but I think there’s still quite a ways to go.”

Parsons was surprised when WashU cited longer-term financial issues in a message about the current financial state of the University.

“Two, three years ago, we were getting the message that the institution is in incredibly strong financial shape, and now financial constraints are being used as the excuse to lay off hundreds of people,” Parsons said.

Parsons said that faculty primarily get information on the administration from department chairs, division meetings, the Faculty Senate, and from Student Life.

While WashU officially subscribes to a faculty governance model, Parsons said its implementation is not always consistent and that faculty are not always consulted when major decisions are made. 

There are channels through which faculty can express their thoughts on University policy, such as Arts & Sciences faculty meetings run by Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences Feng Sheng Hu. According to Lester, faculty input is valued for the most part. 

“I have seen where they have tried to implement a policy and faculty pushed back against it, and then they changed the policy,” Lester said.

Recently, the College of Arts & Sciences dissolved the task force charged with considering the combination of six academic departments. Dean Hu dissolved the task force due to strong pushback including that of impacted faculty and resignations of faculty on the task force.

Ron Cytron, a computer science and engineering professor in the McKelvey School of Engineering has worked for the University for 34 years, first as an associate professor and later as a tenured professor and at one point, associate chair of the computer science department.

During his time with the University, Cytron has witnessed the tenures of three chancellors.

“All chancellors play their cards fairly close to the chest, for good reason,” Cytron said. 

One significant policy change Cytron witnessed and supported was the switch to becoming a need-blind institution.

“I think [switching to need-blind admissions] was a huge step forward for WashU. In fact, when I first arrived at WashU, I asked about that, and I was told ‘to be quiet and eat my spinach, that [the switch] would never happen’.” 

Sudden changes from the administration, including recent layoffs, have created confusion among faculty, even among long-serving members like Cytron who have witnessed major transitions in the past.

“There was an advisor I know who got let go, who was doing really, really well. We didn’t get a chance to say goodbye — he was just let go and he was gone, and there was no announcement that he was leaving.” 

In contrast, Cytron’s position as a tenured faculty member allows him greater freedom to express discontent.

“I feel fortunate I’ve never had any cause to fear retribution,” Cytron said. “There have been a couple of cases where I’ve disagreed with things the University has done, and I felt perfectly fine expressing my viewpoint, but I also felt perfectly fine with them saying no.” 

One example was Cytron’s disagreement with former provost Beverly Wendland over faculty access to Sumers Recreation Center. Since beginning his tenure at the school, Cytron went most mornings to work out. After the pandemic, however, faculty and staff were prohibited from the center, and although unsuccessful, Cytron advocated for faculty to regain access.

While Cytron feels secure enough in his role to advocate for his beliefs, many other faculty do not. 

Compared to staff who teach and non-tenure track professors, tenured professors have the most job security.

With unprecedented layoffs and financial challenges, faculty and staff are increasingly concerned about losing their jobs and are more hesitant to share their beliefs, especially when they aren’t sure if they are missing information.

“I have never seen this level of anxiety before at WashU,” Parsons said.

Editor’s Note: This article was modified at 11:55 AM on Oct. 23 to clarify that Professor Lester’s comments concerned transparency in general, not transparency regarding WashU’s financial situation.