The New School revealed on May 15 the terms of a new buyout offer meant to appeal to faculty who will be laid off amid the university’s restructuring, according to a public statement from the New School Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP-TNS).

The new offer, the latest effort to slash faculty and staff, is called the “Involuntary Separation Buyout” and combines a layoff and a buyout. 

The offer gives full-time faculty who receive a layoff the choice to immediately resign instead of continuing to teach during the six-month period before the layoff would take effect.

Eligible faculty who take the offer will receive up to 11 months of their base salary in a lump sum, six months of healthcare, and four years of extended tuition waivers for dependents, according to terms of the offer posted by the university to Guru, a communication platform.

AAUP-TNS criticized the offer “as yet another attempt to intimidate faculty into resigning, to save the university further scrutiny regarding the elimination of programs and firings, and to force some full-time faculty to give up the rights afforded them by the Faculty Handbook.”

The offer is the latest development in a historic effort to reduce the university’s total number of employees by 20%. 

Faculty and staff will be reduced by 15% through layoffs, or “involuntary separations.” Buyouts, or “voluntary separations,” including early retirement and phased retirement offers, will reduce total employees by approximately 7%.

After receiving notification of being laid off on June 1, full-time faculty have until June 30 to decide whether to accept the offer and resign.

Otherwise, following the six month notice period during which faculty can continue teaching, the layoff will take effect on Dec. 31. The terms of severance in that case are unclear and have not been shared.

“The optional buy-out is designed to help aid the transition for those affected by the sad but necessary faculty reductions by offering additional time to plan,” Merrie Snead, associate director of communications, said in a comment to the Free Press.

The offer cancels “the good faith effort for a “look around” process afforded by the Full-Time Faculty Handbook,” according to the statement. The Full-Time Faculty Handbook requires that when a job is identified for elimination, “every effort” must be made to find an alternative role for the faculty member.

In the statement, AAUP-TNS included a March 20 letter from its attorneys to New School General Counsel and Senior Vice President Alex Perez. They warned that the Faculty Handbook is enforceable under New York law and that courts have a duty to require educational institutions to find tenured faculty alternative positions before layoffs.

The growing faculty reduction efforts come amid a restructuring effort by the university to stabilize its current $60 million operating deficit over the coming years. In addition to faculty, staff, and administrative positions, majors, minors, and classes have been gutted.

Community members have demonstrated four times in opposition throughout the last academic year, saying the restructuring unfairly targets the liberal arts and undermines the university’s history, mission, and integrity. Administrators say the restructuring is necessary to save the school’s finances and future.