Last month, the philosophy program at the University of Wyoming was slated to be eliminated, owing to a budget crisis. Now—good news—the elimination itself has been slated for elimination. I just received word from the chair of the philosophy department at Wyoming, Franz-Peter Griesmaier. He writes:

There are positive new developments for philosophy at the University of Wyoming—I met with the dean yesterday, and apparently, program cuts are off the table.

The administration has finally come to the—correct—conviction that dismissing tenured faculty would be disastrous for UW’s reputation. While of course there are no guarantees, it is pretty clear that we won’t have to fold up any time soon. The dean also discussed the possibility of merging philosophy with another department, as she sees safety in numbers, but even that is something to be carefully planned and not rushed. Right now, the admin is developing early retirement options and mergers of really small departments, along with tuition hikes etc. Next week, the trustees will have to sign off on the budget, but indications are that they will.