Probably shouldn't be writing about this but "transparency" is the word of the day

One advantage of being raised by wolves is a highly-developed ability to adapt to adverse circumstances, an ability that allowed me to sit calmly through a faculty meeting in which we learned that the budget crisis that we knew was coming has arrived and it's worse than expected. This is tough but I can survive this is what I kept telling myself, and I hope it's true but it doesn't help those whose jobs are now in danger.

We're all taking a hit, even top administrators--and when the admins taking a pay cut, you know there's a problem. Some programs will struggle to survive because they won't be able to fill open positions, and some non-tenure-track instructors will not have their contracts renewed--and those unfortunate people, many of whom were sitting in the room at the time, will be informed of their non-renewal by March 1, a fact that precipitated a massive collective gasp. Another collective gasp happened when we were told that the College will stop matching our pension contributions, effective as soon as they can make the computers switch to check-chomping mode.

I was impressed by my rock-star colleagues who were able to calmly ask reasonable questions and press for further information. If I'd tried to speak up in that fraught moment I would have either whimpered in fear or bared my teeth to attack, further results of being raised by wolves. Today the mood on campus is somber, as well it should be. Those of us who have been here long enough recall the previous budget crisis and the one before that, and some of us are remembering the valued colleagues whose lives were turned upside down just a few short years ago. We survived that, I tell myself, but then comes the kicker--Some of us didn't.