COVID-19 Catch Up
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Keep up with all the stories and opinions of students. Opinions published are not necessarily those of MVNU, the Church of the Nazarene or Viewer advertisers. The Viewer does not necessarily uphold or advocate opinions published.
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WNZR’s Lifeline 2025 Reaches $75,000 Goal, Welcomes New Participants
By Abby Almodovar
Penmarks, MVNU’s literary magazine, has been a place for students and alumni to showcase their talent. Contributors submit their writings and artwork to be published by those taking the practicum course, and then the community gathers at a reading to see the finished product and hear authors read their pieces aloud. Those familiar with the process, though, may be surprised to learn that there will not be a Penmarks volume this school year.
Head of the English department, Dorothea Hawthorne, and professor Kelly Smith decided to suspend the magazine due to low enrollment in the creative writing practicum for the upcoming spring semester. Dr. Hawthorne explained, “It just became clear that, given all the work that students do to solicit manuscripts, edit them, do the marketing and promotion and actually produce the magazine, we just didn’t quite have enough people.”
She continued, “The hope is that this year can be a growing year, a recruitment year, a building year—but we plan to offer it again in spring 2026.”
Naomi Painter, a student who has taken the course, shared, “I would definitely encourage enrollment for next year, because I think it’s a class where you get to apply a lot of practical skills that maybe you would just learn about in other classes.”
Painter also values the community created by Penmarks for those not necessarily in the English or art fields to pursue those passions. The course has been offered not just to English majors but also to creative writing minors, those in English education or any student who needs their required arts credit.
Penmarks will be returning in the future, and Dr. Hawthorne shared that an event similar to the magazine readings is also in the works for this year. Students can still look forward to sharing their writing with peers in the spring.
Contracts unrenewed - what does that mean for us?
By Abby Almodovar
Students, faculty, staff and friends of Mount Vernon Nazarene University may have come across a website unaffiliated with the school but relevant to its current goings-on. The pages on mvnufaculty.com state their intent to express support for the six MVNU faculty whose contracts were not renewed for the next academic year. It includes a place to submit messages that will be compiled for them as well as a link to support their families financially with an educational scholarship.
The departure of these faculty members extends from a larger swath of cuts made by the board and university president, Dr. Carson Castleman. He explained in an interview with WNZR that difficult decisions were to be made regarding staff and faculty and that these were accomplished largely through retirement and attrition. “Of 27 positions cut, 13 people were affected total,” Castleman recounts, “And I’m not negating the 13 that were affected—that it doesn’t matter. It does matter. But what I want people to hear is that it wasn’t 27.”
This is not the first time the faculty at MVNU have been made aware of budget challenges. Professors have been operating without pay raises for years, and the university also underwent downsizing during a prioritization period prior to Dr. Castleman’s arrival. However, the scale of change enacted this year has been viewed as unprecedented by many in the MVNU community.
Faculty employed under one-year contracts that expire in May must be alerted if their contract is not being renewed by Feb. 1 of that year. In a Jan. 8 meeting this year, former vice president of academic affairs Dr. Amy Kovach shared that six to 10 faculty would be terminated and that they would be informed of these cuts on Jan. 30.
One full-time faculty member is Dr. Dorothea Hawthorne, department chair of English and history, who has been teaching at MVNU under a one-year contract for 16 years. She expressed that the faculty is “fully understanding that one of Dr. Castleman’s three mandates from the board was to balance the budget—and indeed are deeply supportive of the need to do so.” However, Hawthorne also expressed, “Any time a seasoned teacher leaves, there is a loss for students. There’s also a loss of continuity.”
When asked for her thoughts, senior Ella Buzzard stated, “I’m not feeling as much reluctance about graduation knowing that some of my most beloved faculty members and things about campus will not be returning for the next school year, either. I feel a lot of regret, confusion and sadness for the ones who will be leaving, especially in the English department, and I sincerely hope for the best for everyone affected by these changes.”
Dr. Brad Whitaker, chair of the department of mathematics and computer science, also faces termination following the current semester. He shared that his biggest concern for students following these recent cuts is the changing ratio of adjunct to full-time professors. “Because adjuncts, they have other jobs,” and their ability to connect with students is limited.
He describes the experience of a professor—that graduation is always a bittersweet moment of watching students he has invested in for four years move on. Whitaker feels a similar sense of parting now, but he shared that, “Even though this was a surprise to me, it wasn’t a surprise for God.”
Junior Bryer Shipley has been working with Whitaker as the mentor for his capstone honors project. Shipley reflected, “Many of the faculty affected have been far more than professors. They have been pastoring me over the past three years, as many of them care deeply about both my personal and spiritual life. Not only are many of them great instructors but also great human beings. MVNU’s biggest distinction is its community, and the faculty is an invaluable part of that.”
Dr. Castleman explains faculty cuts, responds to student concerns
By Abby Almodovar
Following the contention between MVNU’s faculty and administration over campus “restructuring,” President Carson Castleman, alongside his cabinet and the Student Government Association, strove to provide clarity to students and offered insight into the rationale behind his decisions in a Town Hall meeting on Feb. 15. During the open-dialogue meeting, students voiced concerns about Castleman’s ethics regarding the faculty cuts and he assured students that his decisions were based soundly on other factors and were made in the best interest of the university.
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The motivation behind the faculty and staff cuts was purely financial, Castleman stated. Prior to the Town Hall meeting, the MVNU Board of Trustees provided information about the goal to “return to a balanced budget” in their press release. Castleman, however, informed students on many of the specifics of MVNU’s financial situation. He stated, “This [making cuts to faculty and staff] is not something we take lightly. When I came in as president in October ‘23, I sat back, looked at the budgets, looked at where we were, and that day I had a $5.8 million deficit.”
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MVNU has been in a budget deficit for “12 consecutive years,” according to Castleman. Reverend Brad Kochis, one of the president’s cabinet members, spoke into this issue as well, informing students that when he looked at the budget seven years ago, he saw that in about eight years, MVNU would be unable to pay off its debts, but no action was taken. While Castleman reassured students that MVNU is “fiscally sound” now and that there is no cause for alarm, he also said, “If I—if this team here—did not make the decisions we’ve made and we just kept going the way it’s always been, this place would not be here.”
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A major contributing factor to the deficit, Castleman explained, is MVNU’s employee costs. “When you look at the overall budget of an institution this size, it’s roughly $35 million a year—that’s everything. You should be sitting around 65% human capital cost … We’re sitting at 120%,” he said.
Despite this, Castleman expressed that cutting faculty and staff was not his first choice in balancing MVNU’s budget and that he had tried to avoid it. “From October ‘23 to September ‘24, I specifically did not make cuts or changes that were deep like we’re seeing now,” he stated. “I believed with a few tweaks and really getting out there and bringing the institution closer to the church and focusing on enrollment that we could begin to change the tide.” He said that though there was an increase in enrollment for the first time in five years, it was not enough to bring MVNU out of its financial deficit, so he had no choice but to make cuts to faculty and staff.
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Some students, however, expressed concern that factors such as whether or not a cut professor had made accusations against him, the Board of Trustees’ statement that “MVNU had found itself drifting away from the principals of the Nazarene church,” or personal differences in belief may have influenced Castleman’s decision on which faculty would be cut.
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Castleman denied such motivations, stating the factor that most heavily influenced how he made cuts was the student-to-faculty ratio. Currently, MVNU has a low student-to-faculty ratio of 12-1. “Eighteen students to one faculty is where you need to be viable,” Castleman said. “That means you’re breaking even.” These numbers, he explained, helped the cabinet determine which departments had too many faculty compared to students. In determining the specific professors, the cabinet “took over 60% of their [the Deans] recommendations on who should be cut” and did not cut any professors who were not on a one-year contract, according to Castleman. He also said that the decisions had gone underway last May, long before any of the accusations emerged.
While the budget has yet to be completely balanced, Castleman said he favors continued enrollment growth over cutting any more faculty as the solution.
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Town Hall Q&A: Dr. Castleman’s answers to common questions By Zoey Hover
A variety of worries, many focused on the future consequences of the faculty cuts, have arisen on campus in the wake of the recent events and decisions by the administration. The Town Hall meeting on Feb. 15 provided an opportunity for students to ask Dr. Carson Castleman many of these questions. Following are Castleman’s responses:
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Q: Will special programs (e.g. labs, extracurriculars) run by faculty who have been cut continue?
A: Yes. We will begin to—we know what every faculty has taught. Every faculty gets a teaching load and what we call a “release load.” We will begin to fill those opportunities.
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Q: Will adjuncts replace faculty positions?
A: We will bring some adjuncts to help, yes.
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Q: Will having more adjuncts impact the quality of education?
A: Believe it or not—and I can show you the data—most End of Course Surveys for adjuncts are stronger than they are for a full-time faculty member because of that edge of being in the field and doing it and bringing that practice into that theory. Would I want to run the whole entire organization on adjuncts? Absolutely not. But what we do want to do is we want to have a good mix of people who are currently doing the job. We have some really great theorists and wonderful people that we need, but complementing them with adjuncts is not a bad thing.
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Q: How many faculty and staff were cut?
A: We cut six faculty, total. We cut total the equivalency of 27 positions between faculty and staff. My number one thing was to do everything we can to not affect a person. We do it through attrition, through retirements, and all of that. Of the 27 equate positions, a savings of $2.6 million. Thirteen people were affected.
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Q: How will professors manage the increased workload?
A: Just remember faculty are on a contract, and their contract says they teach 24 college credit hours a year. So, they teach 12 in the spring, 12 in the fall. And that’s all they’re required to do. We’re not asking them to do more than what the normal job is doing. And if we do ask them to do anything over it, we compensate them.
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Q: Will any programs be cut or drastically impacted?
A: There’s not one program that we’re cutting. There are plenty of faculty to teach in all of our programs. Now, will it look different? Yeah. Will we use people that we call theory and practice [adjuncts] to teach some of them? Absolutely. People who are coming in and doing the job they’re teaching. But there’s no programs getting cut. So, you don’t have to worry at all, “Is my program not going to be here?” No, your program is going to be here. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that we continue to set this place up for success and set you up for success.
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Q: What did the Board of Trustees mean when they said MVNU was “drifting away from principles of the Nazarene Church?” What were some specific values that don’t align and what is being done to rectify them?
A: We need to bring the church and the institution closer. And so, one of the major concerns was that there was no representation of spiritual life on campus that sat on the president’s cabinet. So, think about this institution. A Nazarene institution—and the core to us is mission, to make disciples for the nation—and no one was sitting on the president’s cabinet that spoke to that number one point. And that’s when I brought Reverend Mills in. So that’s something I’ve done. The other thing I’ve done is—they had done away with the church relations department. They shut the church relations department down. There was no church relations department. With my creation of the Vice President of Spiritual Life and Church Relations, I re-established the church relations office. Thirdly, I go out even though I’m working 60-70 hours a week. I’m in churches preaching as much as I can to bring the church and institution together again. To understand that we need them, that we value them, and that we care about them.
Student Opinion
By Morgan Mills
Mount Vernon Nazarene University currently is in the process of restructuring. This has left many students feeling concerned and confused about the changes to come. The communal concern was met with a town hall that took place on Feb. 15. Dr. Castleman and his cabinet met with students to have an open conversation about the restructuring and future trajectory of the university.
Students appreciated the fact that Dr. Castleman opened the floor up to questions. “I feel that Dr. Castleman and his cabinet were very open and honest in their communication,” a student remarked to the Viewer about Dr. Castleman and his cabinet. “I appreciate their willingness to host the meeting and listen to the concerns of the student body.” Dr. Castleman answered each question and let the members in his cabinet interject.
Many of the questions that students still have relate to the way that Dr. Castleman plans to keep and instill the guiding Nazarene principles and values. Hannah Painter had this to say when asked about the answers given by Dr. Castleman— “When asked about exact definitions of terms, clear answers were not given.”
Some have individualized questions about their specific department. Gracyn Lyle commented on this when asked about the questions at the town hall. “There were many people who had questions about how their major or classes they plan to take are going to be affected,” said Lyle, “and they were not given any concrete answers; things simply circling back to ‘it’s a good thing, it’ll be better.’”
Several students stated the fact that they did not like how the information on the restructuring was delayed to students. Overall, the town hall was an icebreaker to the restructuring process. Students in general are grateful that Dr. Castleman let them ask their questions. Most wished for more time or a one-on-one session to privately discuss their concerns.
The Spring Musical is Just a Touch Gruesome
By Abby Almodovar
From several iterations in media, many will nod their heads toward the characters Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket in familiarity. Name recognition was one reason Mount Vernon Nazarene University’s theatre director Sydney Moon landed on “Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” for this spring production, currently in its dress rehearsal stage. Moon added that this musical, though recognizable, “also has a new twist on it” and is “something that not every high school or college does.”
“Musicals are that next level,” Moon considered, “I definitely wanted to do a bigger production, include more people and have fun doing it.” The scale of this production is clear in witnessing a rehearsal—ambitious dance numbers, whimsical costuming and creative props work together to make the well-known chocolatier and his perilous factory vivid for audiences. Moon commended the work of her cast, saying “I have just been so inspired by their hard work and willingness to step in—whether it’s set building, helping organize the theater room or helping each other learn dances and songs. They’re a very energetic cast and really shine on stage.”
Moon has also begun a student government for theater club to encourage leadership and involvement. “This year is special because I think we brought quite a few new people as opposed to previous years,” president Zane Menzie commented, “So, it’ll be fun to see your friends on the stage that you might not have seen before.”
Kara Jenkins, the face of blueberry-morphing Violet Beauregard, also places emphasis on the people involved. She said, “I would encourage anyone to join theater because it really is an inclusive community with so many funny moments behind the scenes.” Jenkins then summed up what audiences will witness on stage, describing, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is super energetic and tells the classic story differently. It’s wholesome and funny — and a touch gruesome.”
Evening performances are set for March 27, 28, and 29 at 7 p.m. along with an afternoon performance March 30 at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at mvnutheatre.ludus.com!