(RNS) Reform Judaism’s flagship institution will keep all three of its U.S. campuses open, despite its serious financial crisis, officials announced this week.
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, which trains 400 rabbinical students in New York, Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Jerusalem, had announced in April that one or more campuses might be closed due to its projected $8 million deficit in the next two years.
Although HUC is the only major Jewish seminary with campuses spread across four separate cities, the news had prompted outcry from alumni, religious and community leaders — particularly in Ohio, where the school was founded in 1875 — leading the school’s Board of Governors to give administrators seven weeks to come up with alternative ways to cut costs.
The new plan calls for consolidation of administration, faculty, programs and research resources, along with efforts to encourage more distance learning, online resources and other technological options.
“This direction calls for the unity and consolidation of our entire institution,” said Rabbi David Ellenson, seminary president. “We will continue to work over these next months to complete a plan that achieves the targets of quality, sustainability, and presence that the Board of Governors has mandated.”
Attempting to head off the crisis, Ellenson had already slashed $5.8 million from the seminary’s 2009-10 budget by taking a 10 percent pay cut, trimming staff salaries 5 percent, and raising annual tuition by $3,000, to $19,000.
Ellenson and other HUC administrators will continue consulting with Reform Judaism’s clergy, lay and academic leaders to come with up other budget strategies to present to the Board of Governors in the fall.
