LETTER TO THE CCO EDITOR: TERMINATIONS OF FACULTY AND ACADEMIC PROGRAMS WILL BE HARMFUL TO U OF E

TERMINATION OF FACULTY AND ACADEMIC PROGRAMS WILL BE HARMFUL TO U OF E

President Christopher M. Pietruszkiewicz recently met with the faculty of the University of Evansville via a Zoom webinar to announce the termination of thirty-eight faculty and seventeen academic programs and majors. The plan wipes out three entire departments –Music, Philosophy and Religion, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science – and all their associated majors. Additionally, the President has proposed the deletion of majors in History, Art History, Political Science, Physics, and Spanish.

These losses will severely limit the ability of faculty, staff, and administrators to carry out the core mission of the University of Evansville: “to promote the general interests of education and to qualify men and women to engage in the employments and professions of society.” All the employees of the university have worked heroically this semester to provide students with an education worthy of them during a pandemic that has disrupted all our lives. However, should the proposed plan go through, the remaining faculty, staff, and administrators will face an atmosphere of fear, worry, and despair that will make it extremely difficult for them to continue to offer the outstanding educational experiences for which the university is known.

The President’s plan will limit the ability of our students to explore new realms of knowledge and to encounter life-changing ideas. This applies not just to the students enrolled in the majors that are to be eliminated, but to all the students at the university. This is because the cuts will weaken the general education program that provides an enduring foundation from which students build their own unique lives of inquiry. The contraction of the general education program will serve to lower the value of a degree from the University of Evansville. It is because our students are both experts in their fields and well-rounded scholars that they are so successful on leaving the university.

The proposed cuts will also weaken the university’s ties with the greater Evansville community. Most obviously, the deletion of the Music programs will severely impact the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. Lecture series and community programming are now both under threat. The enrichment that the university adds to Evansville’s cultural and intellectual life will be diminished and felt across the entire region.

The President notes that his plan intends to help adjust financial concerns stemming from reduced enrollment, but fails to recognize that last year’s cuts led to the smallest class of freshmen since 1945. Further losses in programs and majors will only serve to undermine the institutional integrity of the University of Evansville. Rather than strengthen enrollment, students may actually depart the university as a result of program closures.

Over the course of the past year, the faculty of the University of Evansville have worked to restore the university’s shared governance system. They have done so to allow the faculty to participate in decision-making processes and so prevent the President and his team from unilateral actions. The principles of shared governance were established over 100 years ago under the auspices of the American Association of University Professors and are a core part of the University of Evansville’s governance structure. The Faculty’s role within that structure is clearly stated in the university’s Faculty Manual: “Faculty, acting with the President, determine all matters of educational policy with respect to academic programs including degree requirements, honorary degrees, curriculum changes, academic standards.” Determination is not a discussion. Determination is voting. This is why the Faculty Senate has a Curriculum Committee that votes on changes to academic programs and then submits approved changes to the Senate for its approval. The point must be stated clearly: the implementation of any plan proposing changes to academic programs that has not been approved by the faculty is necessarily a breach of the university’s shared governance structure.

In sum, the President’s plan promises to weaken the academic strength of the university, to violate the university’s shared governance structure, and to frighten off potential students. We must work together to create a better path forward for the university we all love.

SIGNED,

Davies Bellamy, Professor of Education, President UE AAUP

Joyce Stamm, Professor of Biology, Vice-President UE AAUP

Daniel Byrne, Associate Professor of History, Secretary-Treasurer UE AAUP

FOOTNOTE; THIS LETTER WAS POSTED BY THE CITY-COUNTY OBSERVER WITHOUT OPINION, BAIS, OR EDITING.