Thread by @rollrhu

i haven't tweeted about Johns Hopkins in a while but given its announcement of austerity measures + layoffs, i pulled up a bunch of documents I had on the financial history and governance of the university. here is some context. (hopefully) 1/
hub.jhu.edu/novel-coronavi…

Notable points on JHU losses
- net loss of >$100 mill in FY 2020 + projected net loss of $375 mill in FY 2021
- $6.2 bill endowment lost $350 mill
- “divisional leaders will...consider furloughs or layoffs to meet their financial and strategic objectives”
- Pres 20% salary cut 2/

COVID's impact is far more severe than the 2008 recession when there was a $100 mill revenue shortage. The endowment suffered more then but there were only hiring freezes, no layoffs. President Brody & university leadership had a 5% salary cut. 3/
jhunewsletter.com/article/2018/1…

Ronald Daniels actually became JHU’s president in the middle of the recession. In his commencement address, he told graduates "Crisis provides the opportunity to think anew and the obligation to act anew.”


His pay was $1.2 million in 2010, his predecessor's was $800k. 4/

In 2017, Ronald Daniels’ pay was $2.7 million ($1.2 mill base pay). A 20% cut of his base reduces it to $960k—assuming a 20% cut across the board, puts him at $2.16 million, close to double what he made when starting. JHU Hospital CEO Paul Rothman earned $2.7 million in 2017.
5/

(All payment figures are taken from JHU’s 990 tax forms, helpfully organized by Propublica here. Check out Part VII of a form to see what the other top earners at Hopkins are making.) 6/
projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/org…

JHU is unique in that its budget is decentralized. The plus side of this is departmental/division autonomy (though some say that has eroded in recent years). The downside is that “unprofitable” divisions may be gutted & left alone to dissolve. 7/
jhunewsletter.com/article/2016/0…

The free market economist Milton Friedman's quote "actions that are taken depend on the ideas lying around" is pretty popular nowadays. And Friedman’s ideas of privatized solutions feature quite prominently in Pres. Daniels’ past academic publications. 8/

What solutions does a privatization perspective yield for Hopkins? In his letter, Daniels’ is vague but emphasized targeting administrative budgets for cuts over academic ones while also seeking “technology system enhancements” and organizational streamlining. 9/

Only time will tell what structural changes JHU will make with austerity measures but the privatization playbook includes tactics like subcontracting labor and divesting from shared goods and services. Pursuing such moves would bode poorly for students, faculty & workers. 10/

In Daniels’ letter he writes, “We rise and fall together as one university.” And yet the phrase “one university” has lost meaning. Daniels’ decisions will have very disparate impacts for the top of the University vs. the bottom.
Or just take money from the fucking endowment.
11/

(Also note that this so far is not the largest financial crisis JHU has faced. The original endowment from Johns Hopkins (the dude) was B&O Railroad stock. The panic of 1887 reduced JHU's budget by over 60%. Maybe higher ed shouldn’t be so dependent on financial markets.)