Twenty-three staff members were laid off as part of a university wide effort to cut expenses by $20 million this fiscal year. The job cuts, announced Oct. 18, affected staff from six administrative divisions and two schools.

The university also cut 100 vacant staff positions and 30 open faculty positions across all colleges, schools and divisions. In a faculty town hall meeting on Oct. 17., Provost Mike Lewis said that an additional $40 million will be cut in the following two years.

As of Friday afternoon, Lewis said that not all staff have been informed of their elimination from the university.

“The leaders of those areas are still in the process today of meeting with their people, so I really don’t want people to find out through the UNews,” Lewis said.

Lewis confirmed that five people in the Office of the Provost are being laid off. Staff in academic departments are not affected “right now,” he added. The current cuts are only affecting the administrative parts of the institution, not academic departments.

The provost opened his office hours to any concerned faculty or staff for three hours, from 2-5 p.m., to discuss position eliminations. He said that he will open his office for concerned staff again the following week.

Michelle Peltier, a staff member in the Student Involvement Center, was among those who lost their jobs today. She said she had heard rumors about job cuts for the past three weeks, but said it was still a shock when the news was delivered.

“It’s nice that they reiterate how much they value your service and that it has nothing to do with your performance, but it’s really hit me how much of my identity has been tied up in my work,” Peltier said.

Peltier, who has been at SLU for over a decade, said she now will take time “to grieve and re-evaluate who I am outside of SLU,” before figuring out what is next. At SLU, Peltier led web and media engagement for Student Development. In previous years, she also was a university photographer and served as an advisor to the University News.

The university is providing all laid off staff with enhanced severance pay and extended medical coverage, which can not be disclosed due to confidentiality clauses.

“Our highest priority has been and must continue to be to treat these individuals with compassion, dignity and respect,” president Fred Pestello wrote in an email to SLU community members Oct. 18.

Clayton Berry, the assistant vice president for communications, said the decision to lay off the staff is not a reflection of anyone’s contributions to the university. He declined to comment on what administrative divisions and schools are being affected.

“These position eliminations were difficult decisions that were necessary to address SLU’s current financial challenges,” Berry wrote in a statement to the University News.

Currently the university employs more than 1,700 full-time staff and has 2,600 total full-time employees (faculty and staff). This cut to staff was a 1.4% reduction.

The University News confirmed that no staff were laid off from the College of Arts and Sciences, Career Services, University Libraries, and Mission and Identity. As of now, it remains unclear whether the staff transition out of the university is immediate or not.

In the Oct. 17. faculty town hall meeting, faculty in attendance on Zoom and in-person asked questions directly to the Provost. A diverse group of faculty, including Stacey Harris of Mathematics, Scott Ragland of Philosophy and Scott Martin of Chemistry, echoed a variety of concerns.

“The past dozen years, there’s been a number of financial crunches we’ve been in,” Harris said. “The message was always, ‘we have a way forward,’ but all this semester, the tone has been rather different. It sounds ominous.”

Faculty said they want to be involved in administrative planning and academic restructuring. Some said they have faith that SLU has the resources necessary to overcome the challenges plaguing higher education today, but many also say they are concerned. They asked a variety of questions about how the institution plans to address such challenges. While Lewis was able to provide some additional information and support, the tension in the room was noticeable.

Lewis will be leading one of three project teams previously announced by Pestello, focused on long-term changes to SLU’s academic size and scope. Specific attention is being given to changes in faculty workload and professional development policies, program viability and curricular management.

During the meeting, Lewis also said that faculty merit raises, which were promised Oct. 1, will be given in January.

The University News will continue to report about these layoffs and the overall budget situation in the following months.

Noa Vacek contributed to this report.

Correction: The amount of severance pay and extended medical coverage are detailed in staff agreements. A previous report stated those were unclear.