Thread regarding DeVry Inc. layoffs

In six words: "Because I have bills to pay."

I’m personally embarrassed by these blatant and feeble attempts at mind control and hollow persuasion, complete with affirmations. When an organization behaves like this, you know the end is nigh. I am honestly ready for the cuts to come already so I can collect some unemployment and leave this madness behind. It’s just pathetic.

From the HelloTomorrow page:

Why are you #DeVryProud?

Why are you excited to be here? What drives you every day? Tell us in six words.

This is a time of unprecedented potential and possibility for all of us here at DeVry University. For more than 80 years, we’ve been dedicated to helping students achieve their education goals. As we turn the page in our history and say goodbye to the past and hello to tomorrow, we want to know why you are a proud DeVry colleague. Share your six-word affirmation, and help inspire your colleagues as we begin this new chapter together.

the bots at yelp have apparently smelled the #devryproud and they are de-recommending reviews recommending devry

Is there really a new strategic plan, entitled "Hello Tomorrow: The Next Chapter in the Journey"?? Is DeVry going to Broadway??

AK always goes on vacation immediately after a lay-off. AK on vacation March 13-15. So, your date is the 12th. It’s True.

Faculty let go in other states also collected unemployment in earlier cuts, so even if future severance pay is meager there should at least be some funds to help people as they exit. More than one faculty colleague has discreetly told me that for this reason they will not quit but instead are waiting to be laid off.

When people were let go a few years back, in addition to their severance package from DeVry, they were able to apply for and receive unemployment in the State of Illinois for 6 months.

Looking back far enough, I honestly had some very good years here and am appreciative for that, and while some of us long ago could see this end ultimately coming, there may be a handful of full-time faculty members out there with their heads still stuck in the sand. Meanwhile, it seems to me that our managers are flailing about each day and running scared. If you consider the more recent reactive and hastily hatched academic initiatives, such as the onsite/online (“onlive”) pilot that I’m thankfully not involved in, many are clearly borne of desperation and will ultimately expire. It’s like watching people frantically run back and forth on a sinking ship, furiously bailing water with little buckets in hand, as the whole vessel lists and moves toward its tipping point. As for me, I’ve politely disengaged and have also let go of my earlier guilt feelings along with any delusional thinking that faculty service over and above (committees, conferences, special projects, expanded credentials) will make a darn bit of difference in securing continued employment here. None of this will save your job at this point. We’ve seen plenty of our “fallen comrades” let go in recent years despite their dutifully taking on all sorts of useless additional tasks that went nowhere. Of course, like most of you I will continue to apply my best effort and positive energy to my classes, whether my students appreciate it or not, but all extra “asks” by management will be met with passive-aggressive flaccidity (how’s that for a raw euphemism?).

In addition to enhancing obfuscation in communication, this organization has only succeeded in adding and refining its core competency for strategizing and executing layoffs. The entity has run its course and it’s time to let it all go. Nothing lasts forever. When the horsemen soon come riding into our village here to finish us off, it will be just fine. In the interim, though, take a moment to check your Social Security account to determine when it will be best for you to begin drawing based on your circumstances. After this, there’s no way I’m going back to academia.

I survived 2015 and was part of the Best Faculty Forward. Before 2015, I enjoyed a positive national reputation and 3 Faculty Managers who thought I walked on water and said so. My last FM (before she got fired) rated me "exceeds" across all 4 categories of performance in 2016.

Then, reorganization and new managers. Nothing about me or my performance standards for myself had changed. I rocked out publications, attended 2 conferences, volunteered for everything, and served notably on national and local committees. And I worked my tail off to teach packed online classes and give individual feedback in "killer courses."

It did not matter. When I was not able to endure a 5-hour, white-knuckle commute (I was recovering from a concussion I'd gotten in a car accident) my new manager wrote, "let me know if you cannot fulfill your obligations." Nice.

So, I quit. But, I believe they wanted me to quit so as not to have to cut me. And, I believe they would have cut me, since they seemed only to play favorites, and had treated me coldly from day 1.

I would say to all who remain: well done! You've survived, and they haven't eaten you. Keep your integrity intact (and I understand: you have bills to pay, mouths to feed). Keep your options open. Plan for the future, and get a job where you are valued. This for-profit machine exemplifies the very worst of utilitarian ethics: you do not matter to your employers. Expect no loyalty from that direction. Expect no respect. If there is an appearance of loyalty or respect, it is only an appearance, based on their goals, their ease, their profit.

For you only matter to the extent that you are useful.

2ybz...I'm reading the last two posts, and I'm not sure you can connect Amy King's absence to an attempt to avoid whatever may happen on her campus. And, I'm just a little interested in how you know what her schedule is.... but credibility aside...and assuming Amy is trying to avoid the villain's role here....it would be interesting to know if other campus presidents are going to be mysteriously out of the picture that day...then you might have something...but then you'd have another question...who's going to lower the boom...if that's even going to happen...HR? The group deans for academic excellence?

The lay-off is March 12 th since AK is off the 13, 14, and 15. Get ready. Here we go again!!!

2ush...so worst case scenario...everyone's CV is submitted...somebody has to decide who goes and who stays...since Palm Ventures has so little skin in the game, and seems(just guessing here) disengaged...are they even going to know who to keep and who not? Someone's going to have make that call for them...I'm guessing campus/metro presidents will make that call.

Yea, my post had no bearing on the current situation. It was in response to the question preceding it about the reasons behind people staying put in 2015.

The current situation is completely different. The Palm Ventures are not legally obligated to provide anything to anybody. DeVry could very well find itself into same position wrt Palm Ventures that the people at Art Institutes found themselves with their newly acquired owners Dream Center and it's a sh**show going on over there. Dream center layoff page looks ugly.

A key point made by 1phl regarding the promise of severance along with the remaining weeks of employment that served to keep the troops in line and enforce their ongoing submissive behavior up through those earlier closures. However, moving forward without the benefit of Adtalem’s cash account, does anyone really believe that in upcoming cuts there will be a reasonable amount of severance? At this point we’re all just fantasizing about management offering full-time faculty a voluntary separation buyout deal that would give us 18 months of pay plus the ability to continue to purchase health insurance through DeVry for that period. We’d be trampling and tripping over each other in the stampede out the door! Too bad the new guys don’t have the resources to make us this offer.

1phl...so this was in the days of Daniel Hamburger..Chairman of the Board...and Rob Paul...President of DeVry...got it...2015...long time ago.

Anyway...back to the larger matter; now everyone's supposed to pony up their CV...this could just be an attempt for the Palm Venture people to evaluate talent...see what they have to work with...The staff at Cogswell College is pretty thin...we might look pretty good by comparison...or is this just a preliminary step before the selection out process begins...and who makes the call as who stays and who goes?

Admin was dangling three to four months of pay plus severance to force compliance from the staff (minus the enrollment crew who were laid-off on the day).

The declaration of shutdown was done in a way that blindsided everyone on that campus so no one had a backup plan to fall back. The campus had two locations with sizable population with enrollments trend staying flat (as in not negative). The regional VP (now laid-off himself) came in one fine day called up the entire staff from both locations to drive down and converge into this one single conference room then the VP played a video of RP expressing his regret for the campus closure. It was funny because the production looked exactly like the RP's student orientation videos. The only person who was given advanced notice by a week was the campus dean who kept quiet.

These people were inept. They hired an outside management consulting firm for probably a hefty fees. The third party firm crunched the numbers and told RP and Burger to shutdown 13 or 14 or so campuses and they blindly went for it. The VP present in that meeting shed about three and a half tears while blaming those management consultants for coming up with this plan so that Devry could reallocate the money to advertise and support the campuses where they thought they had a shot. RP called it a local Metro strategy which was swiftly abandoned within about ten months.

Burger, on that very same evening had the quarterly earnings call scheduled where he proudly showcased the new pound of flesh (pardon the anti-semitic reference) to the Wall Street to keep the stock afloat.

1nlp...that really doesn't make much sense. If I were one of the people affected, and I assume we're talking faculty as well as staff, I'm not sure I'd cooperate. What could management possibly do to force compliance?

They have immense experience in cutting during HLC visits. Back in 2015, they decided to shutdown a campus which was going to receive HLC. Although the preparation went ahead as planned and the HLC visit did go through but its parameters changed from evaluating the campus to evaluating the teach-out planning for the campus. The soon to be laid off staff smiled and grinned their way through the entire pathetic exercise.

Would they really do the next faculty cut so soon ahead of the scheduled HLC visit in May?

You mean LB will be Lady Brutus to Cesar JB?

I appreciate whoever brought up this point. We’re finally getting some serious posts here attempting to connect the dots, though reading this left me with two questions:

1. What’s the “Hello Tomorrow: The Next Chapter in the Journey” reference? Is there an actual meeting or event on a schedule somewhere or is this just a bit of sarcasm? I’m OK with the sarcasm, but I wonder if there’s really a planned event that anyone knows about. Forgive my naïveté on this issue, though I suspect someone out there may be in the know.

2. To the point about the faculty CVs that we all need to forward to headquarters by March 8, wouldn’t it require more time to sort through all of these CVs, behind just a few days, prior to any significant action? Any thoughts on this? Anyone?

Who are we sending our cv to?