On Dec. 5, 2024, the administration of William Jewell College sent a letter to Jewell students informing the Cardinal community that the College would be declaring financial exigency. 

Accompanying this declaration, Jewell’s administration launched a new webpage, “Reimagine Jewell.” The webpage informed students, alumni and donors of the challenges the College has faced and the College’s plan to address these difficulties.

The full letter to students can be read here. It noted, in relevant part, that:

“The College has implemented a variety of strategic cost-cutting measures to achieve efficiencies. These included asset sales, savings on what we purchase, operational cost cuts, deferral of non-essential maintenance expense, and most recently, a reduction in administrative staff. Additional immediate cost-saving measures must be implemented to balance our budget and ensure Jewell’s future success.

Following extensive analysis and thoughtful deliberation, the William Jewell College Board of Trustees has voted to declare financial exigency, an intentional step toward creating financial stability and securing the path forward for the College. In doing so, the Board is deploying an important tool that enables reallocation of resources, restructuring of academic programs, scholarships and significant reductions in force. [Jewell] will transition out of the financial exigency period in less than one year after efficiencies are being achieved according to plan.” [emphasis added]

In a press release, Bill Gautreaux, chair of Jewell’s Board of Trustees, said that as is, “the cost of program delivery is not sustainable. It is essential that we confront that inefficiency and build a solid foundation for future growth.” Interim President Susan Chambers described current conditions as a “challenging time,” but added that she was “collectively dedicated to the preservation of Jewell for the long term.”

What is financial exigency?

William Jewell College defines financial exigency in accordance with guidelines published by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). According to the College’s Faculty Handbook, a state of financial exigency may be declared by the Board of Trustees when “an imminent financial crisis threatens the survival of the institution as a whole and that [financial crisis] cannot be alleviated by less drastic means” (§4.8, p. 48).

Jewell also has the ability to declare financial hardship, which differs from financial exigency in that “financial stability,” not the institution’s survival, is under threat. Jewell may declare financial hardship when it may not meet accreditation or federal standards, experiences a multi-year budget shortfall, or restructures a program due to “declining enrollments or excessive financial drain” (§4.9, pp. 48-9).

By declaring financial exigency, then, the Board clarified the urgency of the crisis Jewell is facing. This crisis threatens Jewell’s survival, not merely its financial stability.

How is the College administration addressing this?

Declaring financial exigency enables Jewell to take substantial steps to cut expenses.

Academically, the College may choose to restructure or remove certain academic programs. “Reimagine Jewell” noted that “many changes [to Jewell’s academic programs] will be welcomed, but some will impact programs, services and traditions that, while valuable, do not have sufficient aggregate demand to continue in their current state.” 

Financial exigency also enables the College to eliminate the positions of faculty members with tenure; exigency is one of the few conditions under which Jewell may do so (Faculty Handbook, §5.10.1). Moreover, Jewell is not obligated to continue academic programs that it has been offering, and a reduction in faculty caused by budget cuts may render certain programs inoperable.

Athletically, programs will continue through at least the end of spring. Jewell stated that athletic programs will “continue as planned for spring as well while we complete the work developing a more viable athletic aid strategy, and a sustainable and strategic fundraising plan.” Jewell plans to provide more details about the future of athletic programs in early 2025.

Administratively, Jewell seeks to increase revenue via summer programs or other uses of its facilities, while decreasing expenses in energy consumption and technology infrastructure.

Other impacts on College functions

Despite this declaration of financial exigency, the College claims to prioritize “as little disruption to the student experience as possible” and that the College is “committed to supporting [students] during this time.” 

Finally, Jewell’s search for a new president has been paused during this time, and Interim President Susan Chambers will continue to serve until a new president and other long-term leadership are found.

On May 17, William Jewell College transitioned from Level B of Operation Safe Campus (OSC) to Level A2 of Operation Resurgent Campus (ORC) following a satisfactory employee vaccination rate of above 84%, according to a mass email sent to students and employees.

The May 14 email – delivered on the Friday preceding the college’s transition date – stated that students and employees can expect to begin the 2021-22 academic year in Level A2 of Operation Resurgent Campus. With most students off-campus for the summer, the immediate changes to guidelines would most impact employees finishing up work beyond May 17.

Among the new guidelines, the email states: 

• “All employees are expected to return to work on campus. If an employee has a need to continue remote work, they should request an accommodation from Human Resources as well as supervisory approval, unless otherwise stated on the employee job description.
• Facial coverings are not required in outdoor settings.
• Facial coverings are not required indoors for vaccinated individuals, but non-vaccinated individuals are advised to wear facial coverings per CDC guidelines or until the current Clay County order expires. Facial coverings are encouraged for any who deem it appropriate for personal well-being.
• Recognize social distancing as/when posted.”

The decision to transition to ORC follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s controversial May 13 update to facial covering recommendations for fully vaccinated persons. Also succeeding the CDC’s update, Clay County expired its facial covering mandate in an announcement on May 14, leaving the decision to continue implementing precautions up to individual businesses and organizations. 

Independent of the CDC update, the email reasons that transmission risk for individuals on campus this summer will be minimal:

“The decision to reduce these restrictions is a result of the College achieving herd immunity on a micro level. During the summer months, the majority of individuals on campus will be vaccinated, thus the risk of transmission on campus is lower.”

Additionally, further changes to guidelines will be heavily dependent on national, local and campus-wide circumstances over the summer and into fall. To transition from Level A2 to Level A1 of ORC, Jewell must “confirm that enough students are vaccinated to sustain local jurisdiction immunity expectations,” the email states. 

Specifically, in accordance with ORC’s current risk-assessment structure, the college may only graduate from Level A2 to Level A1 once at least 40% of students are fully vaccinated, along with at least 50% of all on-campus persons. As of May 20, over half (50.7%) of Missouri adults have received at least one dose of a multi-dose COVID-19 vaccine – either Pfizer or Moderna – and 42.5% of Missouri adults are fully vaccinated, according to an approximate, interactive data report by Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Meanwhile, 31.1% of Clay County residents have initiated the vaccination process and 26.9% are fully vaccinated. 

Despite a national estimation by CDC showing a continuous decline in transmission of the virus in upcoming weeks, the resulting expiration of precautionary guidelines has some healthcare workers worried. National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association for nurses in the United States, published a 17-page document in response to the CDC’s update, stating their disapproval for some of the data used to reach such a decision.

“The studies cited by the CDC in this brief provide an incomplete picture of vaccine efficacy,” the association wrote with concern about recent virus variants. “Important questions remain unanswered about the longevity of vaccine protection, efficacy of vaccines against mild and asymptomatic [COVID-19], and impact of variants of concern that are more transmissible and that are or may become resistant to vaccine protection.

With the virus still very present in the United States, and even now reaching a crisis point in India, the situation is subject to change over time; heeding the uniqueness of the pandemic, Jewell’s ORC email update concludes:

“As a reminder, the College’s response to the pandemic will remain fluid for the next several months as our country reopens. Should the country and/or our community experience an unexpected and unfortunate setback resulting in an increase in incidence rates, the College may implement protocols in OSC Level B.”

*This article was updated on 28 May 2021 to include a link to Operation Resurgent Campus’s webpage at https://www.jewell.edu/operation-resurgent-campus.

While the U.S. national election headlines have occupied the space usually reserved for COVID-19 related stories, there is still much to report about the progression of the pandemic. Across Missouri, including Clay County and Kansas City, the stakes of the pandemic are heightening. Such is also the case for both the U.S. as a whole and several countries around the world. Read on to find the most recent local information about the status of COVID-19 in Clay County, Kansas City and Missouri.

Clay County

As William Jewell College moves to Operation Safe Campus threat level C after a cluster of students on the football team and within the Kappa Alpha fraternity house tested positive, Clay County has seen a growing number of confirmed cases. 

On Nov. 4, the County hit a grim milestone – the highest number of daily cases reported to the Clay County Public Health Center (CPHC) on record. Within the county, 67 cases were reported on this day. The seven-day average of confirmed cases was 52.71 Nov. 4. This is an over two-fold increase of the seven-day average exactly a month earlier, which was 20.86.

By comparison, the seven-day average of cases on April 4 – just before Gov. Parson initiated the statewide lockdown – was 2.14. 

As of midday Nov. 7, the total number of cases reported to the CPHC is 3,086. 

Information about COVID-19 in the Clay County area, including epidemiological data, recovery data and school gating criteria can be accessed at the CPHC website, linked here. 

Kansas City

Kansas City is seeing a concomitant rise in weekly reported cases. Updated most recently to indicate the weekly case rate for the week of Oct. 26, the KCMO Health Department recorded a steady rise in reported cases since the beginning of September. Kansas City reached an all-time high in the week of Oct. 11 with an average daily case rate of 232.65. This rate dipped in the week of Oct. 18 to 151.43 only to rise almost back up to that record level, with a case rate of 219.34 in the week of Oct. 26.

Kansas City’s positivity rate – measured as a proportion of the number of positive COVID-19 tests to the number of total COVID-19 tests taken in Kansas City – also hit a record high in the week of Oct. 11 at 16.14 percent. The rate dipped to 11.81 in the following week and has risen again to 14.16 percent in the week of Oct. 26.

KCMO Health Department notes that Kansas City should be aiming for a positivity rate of about five percent, which would indicate that transmission of the virus is low and enough people are being tested. 

Across Kansas City, the age group that reported the most cases of COVID-19 were 20- to 29-year-olds, who reported 445 cases in the past two weeks as of Nov. 7, according to the KCMO Health Department. 

Chief medical officers across Kansas City hospitals have shared that they are dangerously close to reaching capacity due to COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Kansas City’s COVID-19 epidemiological data and testing resources are accessible at the KCMO government website, linked here.

Missouri

Missouri as a whole is reflecting these local trends. According to information from the Show Me Strong Recovery Plan website as of Nov. 7, there was an average of 19,680 cases across the state between Oct. 29 and Nov. 4, with an average of 2,811 per day.

Yesterday, Missouri reported a record high of 3,931 newly confirmed cases, which officially brought the state’s total number of cases to over 200,000. This most recent figure has not been factored into the Show Me Strong Recovery Plan’s seven-day average as of yet.

According to the Show Me Strong Recovery Plan, Missouri has recorded 321 cases of COVID-19 per every 100,000 people and 1.4 deaths from COVID-19 per every 100,000 people, both within the past seven days. These per-capita numbers put Missouri at number 16 and 10, respectively, out of all 50 states.

Missouri’s positivity rate is at a seven-day average of 16.7 percent. 

As of Nov. 4, there are 1,826 beds occupied by coronavirus patients in Missouri hospitals. The rapidly growing number of hospitalized coronavirus patients is forcing Missouri hospitals to consider contingency plans in the event that they reach capacity in the coming weeks.