Washington State
Seattle Pacific University announces 40% cut to programs, steep layoffs
June 16, 2023

Seattle Pacific University is cutting its budget for academic programs by 40% — mostly through steep faculty layoffs, effective in a year.
The announcement by interim President Peter Menjares in an email to faculty Wednesday follows several years of internal protests against the Christian university’s policy against hiring people in same-sex relationships. Those protests culminated in a lawsuit by students, faculty and staff claiming the ban is causing the school to “implode.”
This week’s revelation, attributed by the school to declining enrollment and coming on top of previous staff cuts, seemed like possible confirmation. At the very least, it raised fears among faculty about the continued vitality of an institution with a storied Seattle history. Free Methodists founded the school in 1891 with an inclusive, ecumenical vision.
“My heart is breaking,” said Jeffrey Overstreet, an assistant English professor and former SPU student, whose parents also attended the school. “I’m not sure we can come back from what is happening right now.”
But Les Steele, recently named SPU’s interim chief academic officer, said: “There is absolutely no fear of falling off the precipice at this point.” He said he believes faculty and staff will “look for those creative opportunities to do some new and different things.”
Steele attributed SPU’s enrollment woes not to the fierce controversy around its LGBTQ+ hiring policy but to national trends in higher education. Many colleges and universities have lost students in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic caused some of the decline, he pointed out. Students often balked at remote learning, and some stayed away even after in-person classes resumed.
On top of that, Steele said, has come this question: “Does America value higher education anymore?” To some, it has lost its luster, particularly given skyrocketing tuition costs.
SPU’s enrollment has been declining at least since 2015, when it had 4,175 students. In the fall of 2021, it had roughly 3,400, and numbers have continued to decline, said spokesperson Tracy Norlen.
The good news, Steele added, is that 40% of this year’s graduating class are first-generation college-goers. They might see the value of college more than others, he said.
Overstreet recognizes the national trends. Still, he believes SPU’s hiring policy exacerbated the problem, driving away both students and faculty. Like others on campus, he said that policy reflects a conservative board that is out of step with the attitudes of many in the SPU community.
That’s been shown by the protests, which included a prolonged sit-in last year. In a faculty vote, 80% agreed the university should allow employment of people in same-sex marriages.
“It has felt to us like our campus is being bombed by some distant entity,” Overstreet said of the board’s decision to go the opposite way in its hiring policy.
This dual dynamic — conservative on LGBTQ+ issues in policy but the opposite in on-the-ground campus reality — puts SPU in a tricky place when it comes to attracting students, said Kevin Neuhouser, co-chair of SPU’s sociology department and adviser to the Haven, an LGBTQ+ student club.