No Layoffs at HDS: A Call for Collective Sacrifice

We the undersigned students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and alumnae of Harvard Divinity School wish to express our opposition to the staff layoffs at HDS. They run contrary to our deepest values as ministers and scholars of religion and of the humanities%u2014that institutional, financial, and ideological considerations ought to always be secondary to human ones.

We ask that the Divinity School take immediate steps to stop or reverse any layoffs, including but not limited to voluntary cuts in compensation for the highest-paid faculty and administrators; cuts in traveling budgets; and cuts in or elimination of catering budgets. We make this request with the full knowledge that it might entail sacrifice or inconvenience on our parts and with a joyful willingness to accept that sacrifice on behalf of our fellow HDS community members.

Further we ask for active and open communication on the part of the Divinity School concerning any current and future layoffs, that we might be active participants in the deliberation process.

Thank you for your time and consideration.