New School administrators have been exploring dramatic restructuring proposals for at least two years, according to two leaked documents from 2023 obtained by the New School Free Press. 

The documents reflect current criticism by faculty who say the ongoing restructuring is abandoning the university’s core values and history. The two documents shared were a report and a slideshow.

Notably, both documents mention a proposal called “Parsons University” that would have transformed the university into a Parsons-only model by cutting any “programs not useful to Parsons’ further growth … ” Parsons School of Design has historically been The New School’s largest and most profitable college.

Before the university grew to include five colleges, it was originally founded as The New School for Social Research, a progressive safe haven for social sciences and liberal arts. 

Amy Malsin, former vice president of university communications, confirmed the veracity of the documents. Moreover, Malsin confirmed that the two documents directly influenced the university’s current restructuring. Malsin said, “[Summer] Working Group members considered more than two dozen prior planning documents from the last 20 years related to our mission, vision, and structure.” 

The discovery comes amid a massive gutting to stabilize the university’s long-standing financial deficit, last estimated at $48 million. The effort has included pausing NSSR PhD programs, cutting classes, majors, and minors, and reducing the number of employees. 

Faculty have repeatedly contested the ongoing restructuring efforts. So far, Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and NSSR have seen more cuts and changes than Parsons and the College of Performing Arts.

The report and slideshow were sent by a source who was granted anonymity due to the fear of retaliation from administrators.

The report

The first of the leaked documents was an Oct. 10, 2023 report titled “Budget Strategy for Financial Sustainability.” Malsin said the report was drafted by the executive deans of the colleges by request from President Dwight McBride and presented to Interim President Donna Shalala in October 2023. 

In a comment to the New School Free Press, Shalala said that Mark Diaz, former executive vice president for business and operations, “[led] the effort.” Referring to how administrators shared the broader planning with the community, Shalala said Diaz “made the presentations” which were shared to “all faculty members and staff, as well as student leaders” at “very well attended” meetings. 

McBride did not reply to a request for comment.

The deans in the report describe it as an “orientation document” for Shalala that explained “the process the deans have undertaken … [and] a number of options we deem feasible and necessary to create a sustainable future for The New School … ” In mid-2023, the university adopted a budget for the 2024 fiscal year that estimated a $52 million deficit.

“The deans are in agreement that the goals and pressing needs of Parsons must be prioritized,” the report said.

The executive deans at the time included Richard Kessler, then-dean of the College of Performing Arts and Mannes School of Music. Kessler notably led a historic yet controversial overhaul that included the 2014 consolidation of Mannes, the School of Jazz, and the School of Drama into the College of the Performing Arts.

In a comment to the New School Free Press, Kessler said he “urge[s] people to read the report, for it has great relevance to this current moment and the work being undertaken across the university.”

“It was clear to us all that a significant structural financial deficit, as well as how we had organized our colleges, programs, faculty, and staff, greatly inhibited our ability as a university to adapt to the rapidly changing world,” Kessler said. Kessler also said that McBride and Shalala declined to “take up the recommendations” mentioned in the report.

In August 2025, Kessler became the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. The same month, Yvonne Watson, who, as interim executive dean of Parsons, helped draft the report, became vice provost of global academic strategies and partnerships. A year prior, in August 2024, Joel Towers became the university’s president. Previously, he had served as the dean of Parsons for ten years.

“It is not only the liberal arts, but other domains, including performing arts, media, management, etc., that lack coordination and a structure that promotes a healthy and successful university ecology,” the report said.

The slideshow

Linked on the last page of the 2023 report was the other document: a Google Slides presentation titled “College Restructuring Options.” The presentation outlined six different “restructuring proposals” in detail, including the pros and cons of each option. The slides include the phrase “Confidential Thought Experiment” on every page.

One notable proposal — “Option B: One College #2” — was the Parsons-only model named in the report as “Parsons University.” According to the presentation, “Programs not useful to Parsons’ further growth [will be] closed and the faculty and staff supporting those programs [will be] laid off.”

The “Cons” section for this proposal listed “significant faculty and staff layoffs” along with “negative press.”

Another notable proposal from the presentation is “Option D: Two Colleges #2,” which is nearly identical to the university’s present transition into a “two college model.” In the proposal, Parsons would combine with CoPA and Lang would combine with NSSR.

Other recent and ongoing actions are also outlined in “Option D: Two Colleges #2,” including the insertion of the Bachelor’s Program for Adults and Transfer Students into Lang, which happened last fall.

The “Cons” section for this proposal stated that “The clarity of [Parsons’] brand may suffer from the addition of performing arts” and “If film/video and writing remain in the liberal arts college, then this muddies the clarity gained by the merger of Parsons + [CoPA].”

Administrators have previously told the New School Free Press that many of the ideas behind the ongoing restructuring are not new.

The university began transitioning into a two-college model this fall following a proposal by Towers, according to the Academic Working Group’s final report. 

Faculty, particularly at Lang and NSSR, have been quick to criticize restructuring as an effort to sideline the two colleges. A motion filed in October by the Lang Faculty Council expressed the fear that, if Lang did not reach enrollment targets and take other actions, The New School would “become Parsons University, with NSSR folding and Lang becoming an appendix for gen ed courses.”

Contact Shane Gomez at [email protected] or on Signal @sgomez.11 and Sam Brule at [email protected] or on Signal @Samb.59