Tenured professor says she was blindsided by latest round of Bowie State cuts

Tamara Brown is beginning her 19th year in the classroom at Bowie State University. But she also recently discovered it will be her last year due to faculty cuts.

The tenured history professor and director of women’s studies said she was blindsided to learn she’s among 20 faculty members who will be let go at the end of the school year.

“All the students that you’ve helped, that you … You know, you work so hard to build your career and your reputation and everything else, and that it can all be taken away from you in one fell swoop,” Brown told News4.

Bowie State officials said the layoffs and the 79 job cuts the university announced in the spring are needed to help close an $18 million budget shortfall.

The university said state and federal funding cuts as well as escalating costs have contributed to the growing deficit.

Bowie State University continues to deal with a budget shortfall. And after layoffs earlier this year, now more job cuts are planned. News4’s Darcy Spencer reports.

Brown said she and other professors recommended furloughs instead of layoffs to protect jobs. Some faculty have also questioned administrator salaries and hires.

“We’ve seen a lot of administrators hired in the past few years and they do start at very large salaries. Typically salaries that are twice what professors make. You know, sometimes three times what professors make. And it doesn’t take a mathematician to see that this probably adds to that deficit situation,” Brown said.

In a previous statement, Bowie State President Dr. Aminta Breaux said in part: “Our objective is not simply to reduce costs or become a smaller university. Our objective is to become a stronger, more focused, more innovative and financially sustainable Bowie State University.”

Bowie State isn’t the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) facing major financial challenges.

The Biden administration identified a $12 billion funding gap between HBCUs and predominantly white peer universities in 2023.

Kyle Moore is the chief economist at the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank that works to advance financial equity to HBCUs

“The primary factor that I want folks to remember is that these are institutions that have been systematically underfunded by the states that house them. And they have never gotten the support that they deserve. And they’ve always had to operate under dire financial constraints,” Moore said.

Moore said there are a number of factors besides the lack of state funding, including higher education being on attack from the federal government, having smaller endowments than their peers and alumni who might not have the resources to quickly repay student loans and give back.

“So because they choose to serve under-resourced communities and are often tuition dependent, they are often in that constraint of needing to receive funding from folks who often don’t have the resources to be able to support them in the same way that other communities might be able to,” he said.

Moore said equitable funding, more pell grants and student loan forgiveness could improve the funding for HBCUs.

Meanwhile, with the job losses at Bowie State coming in a matter of months, Brown said her future is unclear.

“But at 19 years, I don’t make the time for the full state pension. That would be 20 years and then 25. So I don’t know what’s next.”