The letters went out Friday, via certified mail, to all full-time professors at Grand Canyon University. In a twist on the old college acceptance letters, many of the recipients got the thick envelopes, which included contracts for the coming year (with signing bonuses included).
Seventeen other full-time faculty members got thin envelopes — single page letters informing them that because “this has a been a year of challenge and change for Grand Canyon University, difficult decisions” must be made. “One area of correction,” the letter continued, “is the number of full and part time faculty on campus. It is in this context that I regret to inform you that you will not receive a contract.”
At least five of the instructors who were let go had tenure, even though they and other instructors at the college say that administrators had assured them repeatedly since a group of private investors bought the financially ailing Christian college in January 2004 that the institution would honor their tenured status.

In a e-mail message distributed around the campus, Grand Canyon’s CEO, Brent Richardson, attributed the layoffs to a “reduction and redirection in certain academic departments, positions and programs.” He called the actions “an expected and necessary part of the restructuring of GCU and the first change that impacts faculty in the way staff and even students have been impacted,” noting previous cutbacks in staff positions and scholarship adjustments for students.

Full Story: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/05/18/canyon