Despite Reports, UConn Philosophy “Not at Risk”
Last week, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported on worries that “dozens of majors could face elimination as part of a review of low-enrollment programs—a process that began amid a significant budget deficit.”
University of Connecticut’s Manchester Hall, which houses the Department. of Philosophy
The Chronicle article, which was being shared among philosophers on social media, stated that “Majors like philosophy, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, and animal science are on the chopping block.”
However, inquiries to faculty in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut suggest this is not the case. One faculty member said: “Our department is not at risk of being cut. In fact, we are the only department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that is growing, especially growing majors, but also hiring new faculty.”
Department Chair Lewis Gordon wrote, “While these proposed cuts are of course concerning, especially to the humanities, we think philosophy in particular is in fairly good shape.”
Great news.
“Even as faculty members questioned the merit of the rubrics and the reasons behind the process, some saw a silver lining: Good scores, they reasoned, meant their departments were safe.
‘We were scored high enough that we felt like we didn’t need to worry about further impact, at least for the present,’ said Reese, the Russian lecturer, pointing to the language department’s score of “meeting expectations.” That surprised him, since he had braced for the worst based on rpk’s involvement at West Virginia University, where the university cut the entire foreign languages department.
Andreatta, the anthropology professor, felt the same. “We met expectations. We were solid in many areas,” she said. “So, I thought, ‘OK. We’re there.’”
The feeling of safety didn’t last very long.
On January 14, Andreatta was in an anthropology-of-food class when some of her 18 students broke the news: They’d received an email saying the anthropology major would be among the programs recommended for discontinuation.”
https://www.chronicle.com/article/nobody-knows-where-the-line-is