On Tuesday November 11, President Elzinga, Provost Noah Toly, and the VP of Student Life Sarah Visser held a town hall meeting to discuss the budget transformations that are happening here at Calvin. I attended the town hall skeptically; I wanted answers, and I knew I wasn’t going to get any—I was proven right. 

I want to state that I am grateful to the Student Senate who helped to put on this event, and I am grateful to President Elzinga, Provost Toly, and the VP of Student Life for taking the time to address student concerns. They started by addressing the state of the university: we’re dealing with previous pressures that are coming back more intense than before, we’re facing the problem of declining number of 18-22 years old which means less students going to universities, and we’re living in a time where our education has to be adapted to a workforce that is learning how to utilize AI. They made it very clear that we are not in a financial crisis. I was glad that they decided to describe the backdrop of our current financial struggles, and all three made it very clear that Calvin is trying to stick to their core commitments. They’re committed to continuing to foster connections between professors and students, they’re committed to keep bringing in people that bring diverse perspectives and connections, and they’re committed to preserving the content of liberal arts the same even though we have to adapt to AI. I was pleased to hear about their dedication to Calvin’s mission, but when they started to answer students’ questions, they consistently talked around issues. I expected questions about cuts to be dodged, but they always seemed to circle back to their own agenda: faculty being cut was a last resort, our relation with the CRC isn’t based on finances, and they’re being realistic about the numbers they need to pull in regards to both enrollment and graduation rate. Yes, they discussed budget transformation, but I think I speak for at least a few students when I say that the town hall created more fears than it quelled—my fears were confirmed on Thursday at 5:31 PM via one Outlook email. 

I am a proud humanities major, and as much as I joke about getting a liberal arts education, I am so grateful that I get to have one here at Calvin University. My concerns about these decisions come directly from how much I believe Calvin’s liberal arts identity is worth protecting. I came to Calvin knowing that I was going to be a Philosophy major with a minor in English, but along the way, I picked up majors in both Criminology and Sociology. The fact that I am now a former Sociology major because of the budget cuts isn’t what pushed me to write this article. To me, the heart of Calvin has always been its faculty, and with many irreplaceable new hires in the past decade, I’ve never been happier to be a Calvin student. I likely know more about the inner workings of academia than most, so when I saw the statement that “Over the next two years, we expect our overall faculty headcount to decline by 12.5%… involuntary departures will amount to approximately 3% of our current full-time faculty workforce,” I was deeply upset and knew that many recent hires (most of whom fall under the DEI umbrella) were apart of the 3%. Unsurprisingly, what drew me to Calvin was the philosophy department; to me, this university has always been the paragon of Christian informed philosophy—they’ve always clearly reflected Calvin’s commitment to diversity of thought. To watch Calvin make what seems to be an unintentional, hypocritical decision is deeply frustrating. The answer to the question wasn’t clearly answered during the town hall, but if Calvin isn’t in a financial crisis, why are such drastic measures that go against the core values we’re trying to protect being taken?I have to wonder if every outlet was explored. Did we reach out to donors so that they could help protect the educational values they care about? Sure, our relation with the CRC didn’t start as financial, but they must also care about helping to support the Christian liberal arts education. Did Calvin think that cutting so many faculty members would make it look as though we aren’t in a financial crisis? 

A quote from Calvin’s statement on “Continued Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion at Calvin University” sums all of these issues up well: “Fostering diversity is therefore crucial to our identity as a Reformed Christian institution of higher education, and it is incumbent upon us to ensure that all those we welcome to Calvin experience a sense of belonging”. If prospective students don’t see themselves reflected at our university, they won’t want to come here. If prospective students see us failing to uphold a crucial part of our liberal arts tradition, they won’t want to come here. If prospective students see us breaking our commitment towards a multicultural Kingdom of God where everyone is welcome, they won’t want to come here. It seems to me that budget transformation will end up driving prospective students away rather than having them come to us; until I’m shown otherwise, I do not think that this resort to cutting faculty was a “last resort”. If we need financial proof of student engagement to keep certain programs around, cutting non-tenured professors in already struggling programs is a quick-fix that won’t benefit Calvin’s longevity. Yet, even in my frustration, I still believe deeply in the kind of Christian liberal arts education that brought me to Calvin in the first place, which is exactly why I expect better transparency and conviction from those leading it. 

With so many questions being left unanswered, students deserve clarity that goes deeper than broad reassurance. Now that more facts have come to light and the real consequences of these decisions are clearer, I believe that Calvin’s leadership needs to hold a second town hall—a town hall that directly addresses the questions that were previously avoided. If that is not possible, then a dedicated meeting between student representatives and President Elzinga, Provost Toly, and VP Visser is necessary to explain the deeper reasoning behind these choices. We are not asking for perfection; we are asking for transparency that honors the very liberal arts tradition we all value and are trying to protect.