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“Progressive students and their families look at SPU as being too conservative, and conservative students and their families look at SPU as being too progressive,” he said.
The cuts, due to take effect when current contracts end next June, mean considerable shrinking for some departments. Neuhouser said his department of six faculty members will be cut by half.
“It’s devastating,” he said.
The sociology department will not be able to offer the same range of majors and minors. For instance, it now offers a major in sociology and criminology, but it can only offer one of those with half the faculty.
When the cuts kick in, SPU will be smaller. Yet to be decided, Neuhouser said, is what kind of smaller university it will be. “We don’t know who we are,” he said.
“Some days I’m hopeful and some days I’m not,” Neuhouser added.
On the positive side, he said, are dedicated faculty who, for the most part, love what they do. “Our students get the best we can give them.”
A new president, Deana Porterfield, is coming in July, Neuhouser also noted. Porterfield, the just-departed head of Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, N.Y., may not settle the controversy about SPU’s hiring policy.
But Neuhouser said he hopes she will have pragmatic strategies for turning around the decline.
Overstreet agreed. “She has a record of helping institutions in financial difficulty,” he said. “We are hoping in her we are going to find some real leadership.”
Meanwhile, Steele is meeting next week with deans to discuss how they will decide who gets laid off.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-pacific-university-announces-40-cut-to-programs-steep-layoffs/