A $48 million deficit at The New School has sparked a showdown between administrators planning layoffs and faculty who fear the budget problems are being used to dilute the Greenwich Village institution's leftist identity.
University President Joel Towers plans deep cuts to faculty, staff and programs to close the budget gap. The American Association of University Professors said 40% of full-time faculty members — or 169 academics — have received voluntary separation or early retirement offers, making it the “largest attempted firing of faculty currently taking place in the nation.”
The problems facing The New School align with those facing much of higher education, including declining enrollment, unrest tied to Israel’s war in Gaza, scrutiny from the federal government and mounting doubts about the value of a college degree.
The Parsons School of Design at The New School.
But academics there say the stakes are particularly high for the institution, which was founded by dissident intellectuals. In interviews, professors worried that university leaders are using the financial crisis as an excuse for an ideological overhaul that prioritizes professional training programs over the humanities. They said departments and divisions long known as hotbeds of leftist dissent could be gutted.
Faculty, staff and students plan to hold a protest over the cuts Wednesday afternoon.
“They are trying to radically diminish the power and capacity of the liberal arts divisions, both graduate and undergraduate,” said Rachel Sherman, sociology professor at The New School's Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts. “It does seem to be designed to minimize the power of the divisions that have historically been more politically motivated.”
Sherman, who has taught at the school for 19 years, received one of the buyout offers last week.
History professor Jeremy Varon, who is president of The New School’s AAUP chapter, called the cuts “an ideological attempt to decimate historic spaces of critical inquiry and social justice.” He said the humanities and social sciences would be “purged” under the plan.
University spokesperson Amy Malsin rejected any suggestion that politics played a role in the overhaul.
“There is no targeting of any division, department or individuals,” she said. “That’s not how The New School thinks or operates.”
She said the plan was the result of a monthslong process involving faculty and staff to address the deficit and “reallocate resources where they matter most for students and our teaching and learning mission.”
The New School was founded in 1919 by dissident Columbia University professors, including educator John Dewey, historian Charles Beard, and economist Thorstein Veblen, who faced backlash for their opposition to the United States’ entry into World War I.
In the 1930s, the university welcomed a wave of intellectuals fleeing Nazi Germany. The New School became a pioneer in the study of photography, film, jazz, psychoanalysis, women’s history and fashion. Instructors have included Christian Dior, Aaron Copland, John Cage, Martha Graham and Hannah Arendt.
But like many colleges and universities across the country, the New School’s enrollment has declined in recent years, dropping from a high of 10,469 in 2021 to 8,900 now.
Part-time faculty went on strike for better wages in 2022, shutting down classes for three weeks.
Last year, undergraduates organized a pro-Palestinian encampment. New School faculty then also pitched tents in solidarity. Earlier this year, the Trump administration threatened The New School with “enforcement actions” for alleged “antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”
New School faculty joined students in pro-Palestinian encampments last year.
Towers, the university president, wrote in an email last week that the school requires a “reset” to shore up its finances and prepare for the future.
He said faculty and staff cuts will range from “voluntary” to “involuntary separations,” with a pause on all doctoral admissions next year, except for those in clinical psychology. “Low-demand programs,” he wrote, will be phased out, though he didn’t specify which programs were on the chopping block.
Towers said the university will combine the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and The New School for Social Research, “as one integrated academic unit,” and Parsons School of Design and the College of Performing Arts and Media as another.
“I know this news is very difficult, however by taking these actions now, we will place the university on a stronger footing for many generations to come,” he said. “I am confident we will emerge every bit as distinctive as we have been throughout our history, but this time with a financial foundation to sustain us into the future.”
Economics professor Sanjay Reddy called the cuts “a scorched earth policy” that threatened to further destabilize the school.
“We’re worried that there would be a death spiral,” he said.
He said cuts will go into effect as soon as Jan. 2, potentially separating doctoral students from their advisers mid-dissertation. Closing certain humanities programs could lead to an exodus of students, he added.
Multiple New School professors likened the widespread cuts to billionaire Elon Musk’s approach to the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“It feels like they’re just coming in and wiping all of [us] out without any regard for the consequences,” Sherman said.
