Of all the faculty cuts made during COVID-19 pandemic so far, those at Missouri Western State University may be the deepest. The institution is laying off 31 nontenured instructors, including some on the tenure track, at the end of this year. Twenty remaining professors will receive terminal, one-year contracts, meaning that about one-quarter of the full-time faculty will be gone by 2021. Others will take early retirement. Dozens of majors, minors and concentrations are being cut, too, including English, history, philosophy, political science, economics, sociology, Spanish, French and the arts.

It’s hard to overstate how much is changing.

“It's not going to be the same university. You can't lose that many people and programs and keep the same character,” said Linda Oakleaf, an assistant professor of recreation sport management who was hired in 2015. She'd planned on applying for tenure in October but learned on April 30 that her contract won't be renewed.

"I’m pretty upset," she said. "I had hoped to retire at MWSU in 20 years or so. I liked the institution. I liked that we're open admission. Most of our students are first generation. I like living in Kansas City. The whole thing sucks."