Portland State University said it will comply with an arbitrator’s ruling and reinstate 10 nontenure‑track faculty who were laid off last June, reversing its earlier resistance to the decision. President Ann Cudd framed the reinstatements as necessary to comply with the arbitration ruling even as the campus grapples with declining enrollment, a $10 million shortfall this year and a two‑year plan to close a $35 million deficit. The arbitrator found the university failed to follow contract procedures and shared governance requirements in the layoffs. At Morris Brown College, trustees removed President Kevin James effective immediately without a public explanation, naming a trustee as interim leader as the historically Black college prepares for an accreditation reaffirmation review. James said the timing was “troubling” and stressed prior gains in accreditation and enrollment. Both cases underline tensions between boards, campus governance, and accreditation timelines—and the legal, financial and reputational stakes of workforce decisions during budget stress.