(RNS) — Meredith Mead, a conservative Christian with a love of words, enrolled in Cornerstone University three years ago, choosing the 83-year-old nondenominational school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, over other top Christian schools because of its creative writing major.
When she received an email from the university on June 13 announcing her major had been cut, she said, it felt like a gut punch.
“The more I read it, just the more sick I felt,” Mead told Religion News Service. “I’m looking at a list saying you are enrolled in a major that no longer exists, and just trying to wrap my mind around, what does that look like?”
Adding to the confusion, a report began to circulate that all humanities and arts programs had been cut. Then a local news outlet reported that while some humanities programs had been combined, they hadn’t all been eliminated. Students turned to social media to find out what they could.
On June 19, an anonymous Instagram account called Voice of CU emerged, offering to pass the Cornerstone community’s concerns along to the administration. Since the initial announcement, however, the university still hasn’t publicly confirmed which professors have been impacted.
Heidi Cece, vice president for enrollment management and marketing, maintained that there were no terminations, but “some positions were eliminated tied to very low or no student program enrollment,” and all individuals were “offered extensive severance.”
RNS confirmed that at least six professors left involuntarily: Cynthia Beach (English and creative writing), Michael Stevens (English), Jason Stevens (English), Martin Spence (history), Desmond Ikegwuonu (music) and Ken Reid (seminary theologian). Five of those six had already seen their department, humanities, merged last year with several others to form the School of Ministry, Media and the Arts.
Several former Cornerstone faculty told RNS that all six of those who left were tenured and had already signed contracts for the forthcoming school year when they were informed in June that their roles were being ended — likely too late to be able to obtain a similar spot elsewhere.
Andrea Turpin, a historian of religion in American higher education and professor at Baylor University, said Cornerstone’s cuts are in line with those at small institutions across American higher education. “Many institutions nationwide, including mostly secular institutions, are downsizing humanities programs,” she said.
But Turpin added that Cornerstone’s timing raised ethical concerns.“Terminating tenured faculty who have already signed a contract that was offered to them in the late spring, given knowledge of the academic hiring cycle, would be unethical in the absence of absolute dire financial emergency,” she said.
The last-minute cuts also come as Cornerstone has lost more than 150 employees, including 38 faculty, since the arrival of President Gerson Moreno-Riaño in 2021.
Gerson Moreno-Riaño is the president of Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Video screen grab)
While the majority of those who left resigned or retired, at least 15 employees were terminated, according to several sources. Some former faculty said the wave of departures is linked to discontent with Moreno-Riaño, who received a 42-6 vote of no confidence from the faculty shortly after the 2021 school year began.
