Philosophy Survives at Illinois Wesleyan
Today the Board of Trustees of Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) met to decide on their proposal, announced last month, to eliminate various programs and departments at the school, including philosophy. Not all programs survived, but philosophy did.
The Board recommended “transformation” for philosophy, as opposed to other options recommended for other academic units such as “sustain”, “closure”, “delete major and minor”, etc.,
“Transformation,” according to the Board’s letter, could involve:
pedagogical innovation, interdisciplinary outreach, and more efficient use of resources. Each of these programs has had preliminary discussions with the Academic Affairs office and will submit a written plan to that office, with specific goals and timelines, before the conclusion of the fall semester.
While philosophy will continue at IWU, the one-sided process employed in developing the plan and the way employees were ambushed by the Board of Trustees has left some faculty at the university unhappy. As one professor put it via email, “academic freedom and tenure have been undermined at our institution, and we will continue to fight for our colleaugues.”
Here is a breakdown of the Board’s decisions:
| Academic Unit | Board Decision |
| A&F: Accounting | Investment; Transformation |
| A&F: Finance | Sustain |
| American Culture Studies | Closure
(Delete Major and Minor) |
| Anthropology | Closure
(Delete Major and Minor) |
| Biology | Transformation |
| Business Administration | Sustain |
| BA: International Business | Closure
(Delete Major) |
| BA: Marketing | Sustain |
| Chemistry | Transformation |
| Computer Science | Transformation |
| Design Technology & Entrepreneurship | Closure (Delete Major and Minor) |
| Economics | Investment; Transformation |
| Educational Studies | Transformation |
| English | Sustain |
| Environmental Studies | Transformation |
| Greek & Roman Studies | Closure
(Delete Major and Minor) |
| Health Promotion & Fitness Management | Sustain; Investment |
| History | Transformation |
| International Studies | Transformation |
| Mathematics | Transformation |
| Neuroscience | Sustain |
| Philosophy | Transformation |
| Physics | Transformation |
| Political Science | Transformation |
| Psychology | Transformation |
| Religious Studies | Closure
(Delete Major and Minor) |
| School of Art | Transformation |
| School of Music | Transformation |
| School of Nursing | Sustain |
| School of Theatre Arts | Sustain; Investment |
| Sociology | Sustain |
| World Languages, Literatures & Cultures | Closure (French & Italian)
(Delete French Major & Minor and Italian Minor); |
| Women’s & Gender Studies | Transformation |
Sad days for those at IWU… that set of decisions looks to me like systematic philistinism aimed at turning this institution into a training academy for accountants.
In addition to the depressing cultural vandalism, I work for a leading audit firm (though I am not myself in that part of the business) and we hire and value people with all sorts of educational backgrounds including humanities, philosophy etc. You learn business on the job, not at university, has always been my view. But clearly those running IWU disagree.
Best wishes to the Wesleyan philosophers. I taught Philosophy there for three semesters in the early 90s.