Dowling faculty union agrees to $4.7 million in givebacks

Dowling College's faculty union Wednesday approved $4.7 million in contract givebacks to help close the 2014-15 budget gap at the Oakdale liberal arts school, officials announced.

The agreement includes professor buyouts, possible layoffs, deferred raises and new health insurance with higher deductibles. The plan amends a faculty contract that was due to expire in 2016.

The union's membership approved the memorandum of understanding 52-11 late Wednesday afternoon. The school's current operating budget is $41,949,603.

President Albert Inserra called the move "a seminal moment in Dowling's history."

"This is a wonderful story of partnership," said Inserra, who took the helm at the end of August, having been a chief negotiator for the faculty union on the last contract. "This extraordinary action by the faculty reflects the depth of the commitment each and every union member has to the students of this school, the future of Dowling and the desire of our faculty to be a full and equal partner in strengthening the financial integrity of this institution."

The union faculty, about 75 people, has not received pay raises in two years. The new agreement will defer any salary increases for another two years. The original contract had called for raises of 2 percent in January 2015 and 2.75 percent in September 2015, officials said.

Early retirement packages for professors who have between 13 and 40 years of service have been offered. Members have to decide by Monday, and the number of layoffs would depend on how many professors take buyouts. The buyouts would be paid over the next four years, Inserra said.

Mark Greer, president of the Dowling College chapter of the New York State United Teachers AFT, AFL-CIO, said the faculty members have an emotional stake in addition to a financial one and "wanted to do what's best for the students and alumni."

Dowling's current enrollment of 2,024 students is 20 percent lower than at the start of the 2013-14 academic year and more than 50 percent lower than five years ago.

The college has had seven presidents since 2005 and suffered several credit downgrades.

The most recent blow came last month from Standard & Poor's Rating Services, which cited the school's plummeting enrollment, high debt and unstable leadership in dropping its long-term debt rating from a B to a B-minus.

The school has $54.9 million of debt and a $2.1 million endowment, according to the S&P report. More than 95 percent of the college's budget depends on student tuition and fees.

In March, a report by Moody's Investor Services said the school was "likely in or very near default" on bonds issued by the industrial development agencies of Suffolk County and the Town of Brookhaven.The college has laid off administration and staff over the past two years and closed dorms on its Brookhaven campus to cut costs. Stony Brook University is leasing that dorm space for $800,000 per year for a two-year term.

"I think this is the turnaround here," said Greer, an economics professor at Dowling for 21 years. "This is the most optimistic I've been in a long time."

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.