Five days before Rhonda Phillips took over as Chatham University’s new president, faculty and staff received an email from her. “While excited to officially begin my tenure,” she wrote on June 26, “this is not the tone nor tenor of the first message I envisioned sending.” Earlier that morning, Board of Trustees Chair David Hall told faculty and staff via email that the private university faces an increasing deficit in its operating budget, projected then to be between $8-12 million, and likely needs to “realign costs and revenue” over the next two years. That’s a substantial sum for Chatham, which brought in about $52 million in revenue in the 2022 fiscal year, according to audited financial statements. So far, the university has limited health care benefits and laid off staff members. The board also passed a resolution allowing university leadership to begin a “campus-wide reorganization,” Hall wrote in his email. The process was already underway by the time Phillips messaged the faculty and staff about half an hour later.
