NTT Faculty Detail Frustration Over University ‘real estate empire’

Unionized faculty across the College of Arts and Sciences — the only university department which has a union, the Services Employees International Union Local 73 (SEIU) — are concerned with recent campus construction initiatives, referring to them as a “real estate empire” amidst claims by the university of “no room” to consider issues like compensation, workload and layoffs. 

On March 19, the union was expected to come back with a counter proposal on the topics. Non-tenured track (NTT) faculty are concerned with the expenditures of the university as they face struggles with securing agreements in the mentioned fields. The university’s official stance on the negotiations can be found on the bargaining updates site. 

A 2024 third party audit found the net book value of the building assets related to LUC’s leasing activities was $66.3 million and $38.4 million as of June 30, 2024 and 2023. The amounts total to approximately 6.4% and 3.8% of the net book value of the university’s total land, building and equipment, according to Plaza.

All registered nonprofits are required to be audited by a third party financial firm if they meet certain criteria, according to the Council of Nonprofits.

The hyperfocus on expenses geared toward campus development comes at a time when the cost of living has increased 19% and rent has increased over 28% since the union’s last contract, according to non-tenured track professor in the Department of Biology Dallas Krentzel.

Despite requests by union representatives for increased wages to match the rising cost of living, Krentzel said the university isn’t contractually obligated to give annual faculty raises. The latest layoffs clause stipulates only the lowest paid full-time faculty receive raises, according to Williams, but otherwise the university hasn’t moved at all on compensation since their first proposal.

“I think it’s inherently contradictory that the university is, in reality, functioning as some kind of hedge fund and very focused on investment decisions,” Plaza said. “On the other hand, things that it actually offers to people that they spend the money on — like an education — you know, it’s inherently a little contradictory.”

Among Plaza’s discoveries was an exchange made in 2008 between Loyola and an anonymous donor, selling five parcels of land for $1 dollar. The land had an estimated market value of over $6.8 million in 2024, according to the Cook County Tax Assessor’s Office.

An email from NTT professor in the Department of Sociology Matt Williams detailed the specific enrollment and hiring numbers the university is considering regarding potential layoffs. In fiscal year (FY) 2025, the school hired 11 NTT faculty, and in FY 2026, seven were hired. Four were approved for FY 2027. 

The university said a cumulative 7% decline in enrollments would necessitate eventual layoffs, but didn’t say they were planned. The number of first-years decreased by 5.72% from 2024 to 2025.

The enrollment decline comes in the face of a demographic cliff — a nationwide trend wherein the decrease in students attending college results from the drop in the birth rate due to the 2008 economic recession, according to NPR.

Williams said smaller classes and strong relationships with faculty foster student retention. He said the issue of connection with faculty is hard on both students and faculty.

To manage his time best, Williams can choose to provide feedback, or deliver papers back to students in a timely fashion. The workload problem doesn’t just apply to him — it plagues many other NTT faculty as well, like the professors who work across several different nearby universities, attempting to make it to the next class on time on their commutes.

Loyola released a 10-year development plan in 2024 which would extend campus west and south into the Rogers Park and Edgewater neighborhoods, the Phoenix previously reported. The university also plans to partake in the redevelopment of Devon Avenue through a project called Elevate Devon. 

Williams said he questions how the school has enough resources to knock down and replace a “perfectly good building,” referring to Coffey Hall, but lacks the incentive to compensate faculty for the cost of living and reduce workloads.

Krentzel shared similar thoughts as Williams, stating the school has the resources to address the needs of NTT faculty.

“We know we’re not going to always be able to get everything we want, but we also know that our faculty deserve a raise, because our faculty work very hard for our our students, and that the university can afford to at least give us some amount of a reasonable raise that would accommodate for the rising cost of living in Chicago,” Krentzel said.

The university has moved “a little” on workload, according to Williams. Full time faculty will get a course release every three years, though the policy doesn’t address the magnitude of burnout among full time non tenure track faculty in terms of layoffs.

“It’s not the buildings that make this a university,” Williams said. “It is the students and faculty, the staff who support the students and faculty — let’s invest in the people.” 

Correction: A previous version of this article contained misleading information regarding claims by the university of enrollment declines, “no room” to move on negotiations and the stipulations of the compensation article. The article stated the university “spent over $66 million” on real estate. The article was updated March 25, 2026 to clarify the $66 million figure referred to the value of real estate, not expenditures. The article was updated to reflect the 7% decline doesn’t mirror actual trends in enrollment, but the threshold by which the university can layoff unionized faculty. The article was updated to clarify it was the university, not Matt Williams, which said there was “no room” to move on negotiation topics. The article was corrected to say it was the “compensation article” and not the layoffs clause which stipulates compensation for the lowest paid full-time faculty.