Amber Stoutenborough
Students protest the university letting go of faculty and staff on Sheffield Ave. on April 10.
Last year, DePaul faced a $56.5 million budget gap and a decline in enrollment after the pandemic, a trend in academic institutions across the country. Now at the start of the next academic year, a university spokesperson confirmed the budget gap is closed.
To narrow the growing gap between DePaul’s revenue and expenses, university leadership engaged in cost-cutting measures like the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP).
According to a budget update shared by DePaul President Robert Manuel Aug. 9, 77 total staff and administration members participated in VSIP and 15 employees left the university through workforce reductions in an effort to close the FY24 budget gap. For these staff members, their last day at DePaul was July 24, according to Manuel.
This program was only offered to full-time staff and administration at DePaul; faculty members were not eligible because of the essential role faculty play in student’s education and uncertainty over who will take up the offer.
Of the 1,389 staff members employed at DePaul as of last year, 205 were eligible, but only 77 took up the VSIP offer. Departments affected by staff reductions were notified the week of July 10.
On June 16, Manuel shared an update with the university regarding the FY24 budget and the VSIP program. This update came a week after the June 8 deadline for eligible staff to submit their formal agreements accepting the VSIP offer. As of June 16, Manuel said 76 people had finalized their agreements to participate in the program in his address.
Race/ethnicity and gender breakdowns shared by the university show 67% of these staff members are female and 33% are male. In addition, the majority of these staff members are white making up 74% of all staff members who took up VSIP: 16% are Black or African American, 9% are Hispanic or Latino and 1% chose not to disclose their race.
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