May 15, 2026

Administration Releases Terms of Involuntary Buy-Out for Fired Faculty

We are writing to inform faculty that the administration has finally posted details about the terms of an Involuntary Separation Buy-Out for Full-Time Faculty. The Buy-Out is being offered to all fired Full-Time Faculty whose positions have been “restructured” into elimination and for whom, the administration claims, there is no alternate work. In making such a claim, the administration is effectively cancelling the good faith effort for a "look around" process afforded by the Full-Time Faculty Handbook. The Buy-Out requires fired faculty to resign by June 30 of this year, and is conditional upon signing the Separation and Supplemental Agreements. Terminated Full-Time Faculty will be informed by June 1 and their positions will end on December 31, 2026. Faculty who accept the Buy-Out can reapply for open positions as Part-Time Faculty after June 30 of 2027.

For fired Full-Time Faculty who decline the Buy-Out, the Full-Time Faculty Handbook requires six months’ notice, after which the terms of severance are not clear.

AAUP-TNS believes faculty will have many questions and concerns around the Buy-Out document and its terms. Whether you are in the target group of Full-Time Faculty or not, the practice of eliminating programs, faculty, and staff raises pressing concerns for the future of workplace security, academic freedom, and democratic governance at The New School. The ongoing “restructuring” continues to create precarity for all while devastating faculty, staff, and students who have yet to understand the logics behind department closures or personnel and curricular decisions. We know that this is but the first in a wave of layoffs to come.

We invite you to share questions and comments here so that we can understand faculty concerns. This form is encrypted and anonymous.

Please also become a member of AAUP-TNS (you can join for as little as $6 a month by choosing a salary band that is right for you). We encourage our members also to sign FTF union cards and the union petition. Once recognized, the FTF union will engage in collective bargaining to establish a contract, which is the best way to protect jobs and ensure sustainable working conditions. AAUP-TNS will continue to fight for our academic freedom and shared governance, and all faculty and teaching staff can become members. (Yes, you can and should join both AAUP-TNS and the FTF union efforts!)

We continue to demand an end to layoffs. We see this Buy-Out offer as yet another attempt to intimidate faculty into resigning, to save the university further scrutiny regarding the elimination of programs and firings, and to force some Full-Time Faculty to give up the rights afforded them by the Faculty Handbook (which is currently being re-written by the Provost’s Office). The renewed Buy-Out is a recognition of the effectiveness of our collective fight and an affirmation that we are stronger together. We can and should demand more and better terms. AAUP-TNS will continue to demand transparency, clarity, and shared governance.

The Leadership Council of AAUP-TNS