Adelphi To Lay Off Dozens Due To Coronavirus Budget Gap

GARDEN CITY, NY — Adelphi University announced today that it would be laying off dozens of workers due to financial problems caused by the coronavirus.

The school will lay off 62 part-time and full-time workers at the end of the month. According to Newsday, this latest move comes after the school laid off 160 part-time employees in May. The latest round of layoffs won't include any faculty positions.

"Adelphi University, like many institutions nationwide, has faced difficult financial decisions in recent months due to the effects of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic," said university spokesman Todd Wilson in a statement. "We have taken many steps to increase revenue and to cut costs where possible and have explored all financial remedies available to us. These efforts included freezing open positions across the University, curtailing discretionary spending, cutting capital budgets, reducing hourly workers, freezing salaries, accepting voluntary salary reductions from administrators, and offering early-retirement packages."

While teaching positions are not included in the layoffs, some of those positions are remaining frozen, Wilson said.

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Wilson said that the school is offering the laid-off workers a severance package that includes career transition services, one-month coverage of COBRA premiums and the Cigna Employee Assistance Program for mental health and well-being support services.

Adelphi University, like many across the country, closed its in-person classes in the spring when the coronavirus pandemic began. It has resumed in-person classes for the fall semester.

Though classes have resumed, the coronavirus is still a concern on campus. Just today, it was announced that five students tested positive for the virus and 16 more were quarantined after students attended an off-campus event where social distancing guidelines were not followed.

"It took months of intense work to get where we are, and it will take the cooperation of each of us to keep our campus community safe," R. Sentwali Bakari, the vice president for student affairs and the dean of students, said in a letter to the campus community. "Quite simply, it is not fair that the careless and selfish actions of a few have the ability to undo what we have all worked so hard to achieve."