A recent job listing for part-time faculty at The New School has sparked concern among professors, who say the university is recruiting new hires while canceling courses for existing part-time faculty and laying off full-time staff. 

The listing, posted on The New School’s MyWorkday Jobs page, advertises “possible part-time faculty positions,” with responsibilities including teaching undergraduates, developing syllabi, and assessing student learning outcomes.

The listing includes hourly rates of $127.50 for studio courses and $151 for seminars. It emphasizes a “progressive approach to education” and an “inclusive” classroom environment.

Overall, part-time faculty make up roughly 80% of instructors at The New School, according to Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts’ Executive Dean Christoph Cox. 

The listing was posted during the university’s ongoing restructuring efforts, which have been widely contested by the community. 

So far, a range of gutting efforts have been implemented at TNS, including voluntary separation and early retirement packages for staff and faculty, combining colleges, pausing PhD programs at the New School for Social Research, cutting minors and majors, and planning mass layoffs anticipated for June 1.

Cox described the job listing as part of a routine annual hiring process, adding that voluntary separation efforts are intended to align faculty numbers with the smaller student body at the university since it is largely tuition-dependent.

Despite this, administrative salaries have grown 4.8% annually, reaching $80.7 million in 2024, while around 15% of faculty and staff are expected to be laid off this spring.

Administrators like Cox say faculty reductions are necessary, as enrollment has dropped about 20% over the past five years. 

For many, the overlap between the listings and restructuring raises concerns about job security and transparency, particularly as faculty face layoffs, reduced course loads, and fewer available classes for students.

“When you see job postings for these positions, it looks like opportunities exist, but existing faculty are being given fewer courses, salary reductions, or are at risk of layoffs,” part-time lecturer in religious studies at Lang Raha Rafii, said.

“The university benefits by keeping faculty with the least protections and hiring new, inexperienced staff … [who] are often unaware of their rights, overwhelmed, and … may eventually be replaced,” Rafii said.

Part-time faculty are hired on a semester-by-semester basis, meaning recent course limits and cancellations due to low enrollment have cut Rafii’s salary in half and put future classes at risk.

Rafii explained that as a probationary part-time faculty member of about three years, she lacks the contractual protections granted to annualized professors, leaving her vulnerable to cancellations and unstable pay. 

As full-time faculty faces “layoffs, voluntary separation agreements, euphemistically called ‘buyouts,’ part-time faculty are expected to cover these workloads with minimal protections,” Rafii said. 

“I understand the concern from full-time faculty,” Cox said about the job posting. “That said, the vast majority of faculty at the university are part-time, and we have to know when we’re going to continue hiring part-time faculty. So we need a mechanism to do that, and that’s what the ad was intended to be.”

Annie Lee Larson, part-time professor at Parsons School of Design and unit chair for the part-time faculty unit in ACT-UAW Local 7902, called the job listings “contradictory,” because the university is simultaneously hiring new part-time faculty while reducing opportunities for existing faculty. 

Similarly to Rafii, Larson said the surge in course cancellations this year, including “188 course cancellations in one semester,” has left many longtime instructors without work and struggling with lost income. 

“Despite making up 87% of the teaching faculty, over 2,000 people, part-time faculty are excluded from decision-making, which is egregious and blatant,” Rafii said.

Rafii also expressed her concern for students as she explained many are stressed about their degrees given increasing course cancellations. 

Larson said the cuts not only threaten faculty job security, but also limit students’ access to courses, some of which are crucial to their programs.

Despite administrative acknowledgment of their concerns, part-time faculty say not enough is being done to support them and take their perspectives into consideration.

“We’ve also formally requested that the university negotiate over the effects of restructuring on union members, and we’ve been denied. The university is not willing to engage on that, which is frustrating,” Larson said.

“Cuts have ripple effects that affect everyone in the community. Faculty are not just numbers on a spreadsheet … The current process undermines The New School’s unique character and has long-lasting, damaging effects on the entire community,” Larson said.