The King’s College Announces Budget Cuts for Spring Semester

Photo by Melinda Huspen

The King’s College’s Executive Committee announced incoming changes to the school’s budget and operations during the Spring 2023 Welcome Back Gathering on Thursday, Jan. 19. 

Interim President Stockwell Day explained that The King's College will make a series of budget cuts and adjustments to “show donors that we are being fiscally responsible.” The decision followed various financial hits, including the conclusion of a 10-year donor pledge fulfilling half of the school’s annual budget and the lack of a closing sale on Devos Hall in a declining real estate market.

At the beginning of the meeting, Leedy announced the top three placings in the Fall 2022 GPA Competition for this year’s House Cup. The House of Corrie ten Boom took third place with an average GPA of 3.6, the House of Susan B. Anthony took second place with a 3.62 average GPA and the House of Margaret Thatcher set a new all-time record by taking first place with an average GPA of 3.63.

“I appreciated that they announced GPA comp early in the meeting,” said House scholar Jensen Frey, a sophomore in the House of Margaret Thatcher. “It set a positive tone and encouraged a feeling of community before we got into the rest of the contents of the meeting. I am so proud of every girl in our house and the work they had to put in all of their classes last semester that ranged from MCA content to Tubbs electives.”

Day then started the announcements section of the gathering by saying all of the faculty at The King’s College are now working under renewable one-year contracts. 

“They're not on multi-year contracts, and I had to share that with them a few months ago,” Day said. “We also don't see any raises for [them] in the next couple of years. These are our faculty, the people that know and love what they do, they know and love God and they know and love you. Everybody is kind of doing something to show that we're being fiscally responsible.”

Day also noted that King’s is in the initial discussion stages of collaboration with another university (unnamed per request from the other school’s administration). “[It’s] Christian, easily four times our size, has a great asset base and they run basically a balanced budget program,” Day said. “They've actually come and sat down with us to talk about some kind of a relationship. [However,] we made some things very clear with them. We have certain distinctives that we will not change and our degrees will be our degrees… If there's a way we can work together that's going to be beneficial to each of our universities and to each of our campuses, let's have that talk. We're asking you to be thinking about that as we continue to move forward.”

Dean of Students David Leedy then outlined the budget changes that would most directly affect the student body. “The campus hours Monday through Thursday will be reduced by two hours so we’ll close at 8 p.m.,” Leedy said. “There are two classes… that go until 9 p.m., so the Student Services will be open and you can exit through the main UFT entrance on those days.” The school will be open at normal times on Fridays and Saturdays, closing at 10 p.m. to accommodate events.

The Student Union will be closed to students starting Monday, Jan. 23 with the exception of events. “If you're an org or house you can still reserve the Union for any event you want to do during the week,” Leedy said. There will be no fee to reserve the space.

An email sent out after the formal announcement stated that “while King’s will still host events as much as possible, the College will no longer be providing food at most King’s-sponsored events. We will limit the use of external venues to save on rental costs.”

In light of that, the school’s weekly Public Reading of Scripture (PRS) on Mondays will no longer provide free Chick-fil-A sandwiches. “God's chicken is no more,” Leedy said. “We will still be doing PRS, so please come gather with us on Mondays… you can feel free to bring your lunch with you if you want to.”

Funding for various spiritual life program costs at The King’s College, including the weekly PRS Chick-fil-A, comes from the Grace and Mercy Foundation (G&M) as an outside donation to be allocated at the school’s discretion for programs such as House bible studies. “Regarding G&M funding,” Leedy said in a statement after the event, “the foundation gives the College a large gift to help fund multiple programs but leaves it up to the College to determine how much is allocated to those respective programs. None of the programs funded by G&M are going away.”

Budget cuts will also affect school-provided funding for Houses and student-led organizations. Leedy said in a statement that “spring grants for the Houses and student organizations will be reduced,” but “student leader stipends are not being adjusted.”

“The executive committee has decided to cut the overall orgs budget in half,” said Andrew Pelaschier, Director of Student Organizations for The King’s Council. “Therefore, if you have a semester budget of over $100 it has been sliced in half. If your budget is under $100 it will not be touched.”

“I lead two student organizations myself, and these budget cuts have severely limited the amount of events and needs that can be met,” said Rachel Guerra, a sophomore in the House of Corrie ten Boom. “I think as a student leader, an athlete and a student, these announcements create a lot of worry and speculation, and my hope would be that the administration would be transparent and communicate well with students as we navigate the next steps in our education.”

After Day and Leedy spoke, a Q&A panel assembled at the front of the City Room to answer questions from the student body regarding the announced changes. The panel consisted of Interim Provost Dr. Matthew Parks, Associate Professor of Business Dr. Kimberly Reeve and Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Anderson.

Macy Farr, a senior in the House of Sojourner Truth, asked, “I'm curious about the professors and their one-year contract specifically. The concern arises in me that maybe some of my favorite professors will leave us. Is there anything you can do?”

“Well, obviously, we can't find anybody anywhere,” Parks said. “With the faculty, many of us have been here a long time and we've been through some serious ups and downs. We're here because of the mission, the students and the experience of colleagues. No one would leave the college lightly, but everybody has an opportunity. It's about their situation.”

“Will the shrinking of the budget impact the variety of classes we can take, specifically as electives, in our next few years?” asked Colby McCaskill, a freshman in the House of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

“With a smaller faculty, there will be fewer electives and also fewer students,” Parks said. “One of the things that we find is there's a certain critical number that makes a class go well. When we have too many classes and the numbers get too small, that's not really good for the professor or the students. We're trying to balance those things out, and also just the financial realities that undergird all that.”

“Will Fall Retreat still be happening?” asked Moses Kazanjian, a senior in the House of Ronald Reagan.

“There's no plan to deviate from that,” Leedy said. “What we're trying to do with some of these adjustments is cut in ways that don't affect the classroom experience and don't affect the essential parts of student life… We're trying to protect the things that are essential to what makes King’s King’s, and I think that [Fall Retreat] is one of them.”

The announcements garnered various reactions from the student body, as did the “rightsizing” announcement made last fall. 

“I think that the students are the last people who should be upset about the budget cuts,” said Juliette Hacquebord, a sophomore in the House of Corrie ten Boom. “Yes, we won't be getting Chick-Fil-A on Mondays. Yes, the org money is being cut. But I think if you look at the kind of sacrifices professors and staff are making for the school, it should both inspire us and show how little has actually changed for the students. I commend the fact that in the midst of this difficult financial situation, the college is making sure to keep intact what is core to the school and its values.”

Melinda Huspen is the Managing Editor of the Empire State Tribune. She is a junior at The King’s College studying Journalism, Culture and Society.