Pacific Index

Pacific staff face role eliminations and changes to role descriptions in the upcoming year 

   Over 100 staff at Pacific recently had their job roles either entirely eliminated or redefined. “The way it was done did not feel great,” says a staff member from the Academic and Career Advising Center who wishes to remain anonymous. “The conversation felt cold and robotic. Pacific University speaks highly about community and caring for their employees, but this demonstrates the opposite.” 

   While the estimated number reaches into the hundreds, the exact number strangely remains unknown. Vice President for Marketing and Communications, Jenni Luckett, said, “I don’t have a more precise number. It was more than 100 positions that were impacted through the restructuring.” Luckett points out that not all of those positions were eliminated— some had a change in job description or supervisors. The exact number of eliminated positions is unclear. The university ensures that the purpose of these changes is for “streamlining and modernizing the university.” 

   As a 176-year-old university, there were many things that the university felt needed to change in order to continue adapting to student needs. “You shouldn’t have to go to five different places to find the support you need,” Luckett mentions. “So, the idea is to be fair and have access and support for all students that they can find easily.” 

   This support will now mainly be housed in what the university is calling the “Opportunity Hub.” This hub will be home to career counseling, internship guidance, and study abroad opportunities. Another location for student support will be found in Student Affairs which is where the academic support will reside. However, rather than a whole crew of academic advisors like students have access to now, there will be only two academic advisor positions. These positions will be shared across all of Pacific’s undergraduate, graduate, and various campus locations. Luckett explains that the goal is to open up support for each branch of Pacific, all centralized in one space for easy access.

   “We were informed about the restructuring, and this was…many months ago. And at the time the restructuring was a really good thing because it meant that we were getting more support,” shares Heidi Wright, academic and career advisor, internship coordinator, and field experience processor. “And so, the provost met with us…and she even said like, ‘you definitely need more people.’” 

   Wright reveals that while she doesn’t believe the university was being intentionally deceptive, the support they were promised never came. “Everyone in our department’s positions were eliminated except the one position that is federally funded,” she explains, sharing that her job role has been included in this elimination. 

   The anonymous staff member shares that they advised the university against this decision saying, “One academic coach is not enough to support the undergraduate student body.” And now this includes the graduate student body and other campus locations as well. “I wish the administration would stand behind their decision and make the announcement that the Academic and Career Advising Center as they know it now, will no longer exist,” they say, explaining that the services will still exist, but they will no longer resemble the support students see now. 

   Another sector majorly impacted is the Center for Gender Equity (CGE). “There won’t be anybody who will be overseeing just CGE in the restructure,” shares the current Director of the CGE, Addie Brown. “They’ve created a position that will be overseeing the CGE, the SMC, student transfer services and student military veteran services…so basically they’re taking three jobs and putting them into one.” 

   Brown is unsure whether the new position will be able to be as available to the student body— at least in comparison to having her active presence in CGE. “We’ll probably see less programming across the board,” Brown suspects. “I just hope that this doesn’t end up affecting the student experience, but I do think it probably will.” 

   While this news for many staff means the end of their time at Pacific, others are using this as a chance to reapply to different roles. Morgan Knapp is currently serving as the program manager of applied and experiential learning. In order to remain at the university, she will have to reapply for one of the redefined positions at the university. “While I’m not yet sure what my role will be next year, I know the hiring committees are really diligently reviewing applicants right now and I trust them to make strong choices that will serve the students well,” she announces. 

   The plan to restructure was born the year President Jenny Coyle stepped into her position. “We had all these sessions where students brought their ideas, and faculty and staff brought their ideas, and we have focus groups with alumni,” Luckett explains. Ultimately, the plans narrowed down to simply finding a structure that would be beneficial for the university’s budget, while still offering sufficient student support. “I personally think that Dr. Coyle and the president’s council folks are very open to people’s feedback and whatnot.” 

   Wright, Brown, and the anonymous staff member from academic and career advising all affirm that they were not given a chance to advocate for their positions. “We were never really told why…only that we’re very valuable, but we’d like you to leave,” says Wright. “It’s like ‘you’re super valuable, but here’s a severance for you to leave’…so it’s kind of mixed messages a little bit.”