Lincoln University has told several faculty members they're out of jobs at the end of the school year.
LU President Kevin Rome confirmed the terminations Tuesday, although he did not identify the teachers who have received termination letters.
"They are connected with the program eliminations," he told the News Tribune, referring to the LU curators' 4-2 decision last July to deactivate the school's history degree and cancel two music degrees and a two-year early childhood education degree.
The board made its decision during a July 18 conference call, after the changes were recommended by Rome and Said Sewell, who is now on-leave from his jobs as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.
Sewell told the board the recommendations were based on three primary reasons - low graduation numbers over the last five years, prospective students' low demand for a program and low regional or national career demands for the program.
Faculty members almost immediately challenged Sewell's statistics, saying the curators had been given inaccurate numbers.
Sewell's support for the changes - especially for decertifying the history degree - was one of the reasons cited in September, when the Faculty Senate overwhelmingly voted "no confidence" in Sewell's work.
At the July meeting, Rome told the board the proposal to end four programs - out of 11 reviewed - was "a difficult situation to be in, but as we move forward, I think it's important for everyone to know that we are focusing on the future of Lincoln University."
He told the curators in July, and reminded LU's faculty and staff in August, colleges and universities throughout the country are facing more pressures to perform well and track their graduates' success.
"If students can't get jobs - or get jobs that pay off their student loans, that's what it really comes down to - then we're not doing a good job," Rome told the fall Faculty-Staff Institute on Aug. 11.
"They shouldn't graduate and have the same job they could have gotten without going to college," he said.
Rome told reporters in October he wasn't surprised with the opposition from some national groups to the decision to deactivate history, and bring it back as a degree program only if it could be revamped successfully.
He continued to say the program changes were necessary.
So far, the curators have not discussed changing or rescinding their July 18 vote.