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The Faculty Council at Marietta College met Thursday as a result of events that have transpired in the past week.
While the results were unavailable, the meeting followed an emergency meeting of the Faculty Council on Feb. 21 when President Bill Ruud discussed financial issues at the school. Ruud also released a letter Feb. 22 to faculty and administration about short-term decisions.
A comment about the Thursday meeting was not immediately available from Janet Bland, provost and dean of faculty, and Dennis Kuhl, professor and chair of the Faculty Council.
College spokesman Tom Perry said the meeting was closed and he was unaware of any actions taken.
On Tuesday, March 1, the Faculty Council released a letter to all faculty addressing the Board of Trustees. The faculty council letter stated "… the budget crisis has also created a crisis of confidence that may cripple our ability to work in partnership with the administration and Trustees." The letter then went on to share the concerns of the council and urged the board of trustees to take action.
The letter said they went from being reassured that the pandemic has been weathered through to seeing the pandemic being blamed for retention issues and cash flow problems.
"The President has publicly blamed the budget crisis on the pandemic and related retention issues while acknowledging deep and long-standing flaws in the College's budgeting practices," said the letter from the council.
The council asked who is responsible for the budgeting practices, who will be held accountable, and how did the practices go unnoticed for so long.
The letter also stated that the "budget crisis" will result in faculty cuts.
"We recently entered into a strategic planning process based on the premise that we need to make major changes to programs and curriculum, including 'right-sizing' the faculty; however, the budget crisis has resulted in very quick decisions about staffing, with no time or process to plan strategically, and we have been promised further cuts in the coming year without a clear outline of the process," said the letter.
The letter said the council is concerned with whom they can trust moving forward to lead the school out of the crisis.
The letter asked the Board of Trustees for an independent audit with the intent to provide full accounting of the budget, a clear message affirming the board's commitment to the college's mission, an explanation of the steps the board is taking to protect the college's mission, and a clear explanation of why the current administration deserves their trust.