Cuts and Threats to Philosophy Programs

Why Did This Philosophy Program Survive?

Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, like several other institutions of higher education, has decided to cut its undergraduate programs. (more…)

Claremont Graduate University Closes Philosophy Department

Claremont Graduate University has closed its philosophy department and fired its two tenured philosophy professors, according to a report at Inside Higher Ed.

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Philosophy Targeted at Hiram College

The philosophy major at Hiram College in Ohio will be eliminated if a new “academic redesign” recommended by the interim dean of the college goes forward. (more…)

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Plans To Discontinue Philosophy Program, Being a University

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point has announced plans to eliminate the philosophy major at its school, along with majors in American Studies, Art, English, French, Geography, Geoscience, German, History, Music Literature, Political Science, Sociology, and Spanish. (more…)

Philosophy Minor Survives Program Massacre at Wisconsin-Superior

Administrators at the University of Wisconsin-Superior surprised their faculty this week with news that they were “suspending more than two dozen academic programs,” according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Remarkably, given all the times we’ve seen philosophy programs threatened over the past few years, the philosophy program at Wisconsin-Superior survived t..

Philosophy Threatened at Newcastle (Australia)

Under a proposed reorganization of its curriculum, the University of Newcastle, which advertises itself as a “world class university” would eliminate the possibility of students majoring in philosophy, along with 80% of its philosophy faculty. (more…)

Mills College Board of Trustees Approves Revised Plan: Philosophy Not Entirely Eliminated

The Mills College Board of Trustees on Monday approved a revised version of its “Financial Stabilization Plan.” The original version of the plan called for the firing its tenured philosophy faculty, full professor and department head Marc Joseph and associate professor Jay Gupta, and eliminating the Philosophy Department. The approved plan fired Joseph (who had call..

180 Seconds To Save Their Jobs

On June 6th, the Mills College administration and Board of Trustees announced plans to eliminate philosophy at Mills College and fire its two tenured philosophy professors, Marc Joseph and Jay Gupta. On Friday, the Board of Trustees offered each of them three minutes to provide testimony in defense of philosophy and their jobs. (more…)

Philosophers From Women’s Colleges Oppose Eliminating Philosophy At Mills

Philosophers at Wellesley, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, and Barnard—all women’s colleges—have authored a letter opposing the proposed elimination of the philosophy department at Mills College. (more…)

Petition Launched to Preserve Philosophy at Mills College

In the wake of news reported last Wednesday that the administration and Board of Trustees of Mills College plans to eliminate the school’s philosophy department and fire its tenured faculty, a petition has been launched to “Uphold Principles of Academic Freedom and Preserve the Philosophy and Journalism Departments at Mills College.” (more…)

Mills College Plans To Eliminate Philosophy Department

Following up on the report about the threat to philosophy at Mills College: the Board of Trustees and administration at Mills announced late yesterday afternoon the details of its “Financial Stabilization Plan” and it includes laying-off both Marc Joseph, a tenured full professor, and Jay Gupta, a tenured associate professor, who together comprise the entire philoso..

Philosophy Major, Tenured Professors at Risk at Mills College

The Department of Philosophy at Mills College in Oakland, California is one of a few departments that the school’s administration has identified as operating at a “negative net revenue,” and as a result, the administration may eliminate the philosophy major and tenured philosophy faculty at the school may lose their jobs. (more…)

Notre Dame Philosophers Issue Statement On Threats To Philosophy at Univ. of St. Thomas Houston

In response to news that philosophy programs at the University of St. Thomas in Houston may be shut down and tenured philosophers relieved of their positions, members of the University of Notre Dame Department of Philosophy have issued the following statement, which was sent in to Daily Nous by Professor Thérèse Cory: (more…)

Univ. St. Thomas Administration Plans to “Terminate” Philosophy PhD Program (Update: Plans Have Changed)

The philosophy department… has been told that the administration plans to go to the board in the next week or two and terminate the PhD program. This, we are told, would allow the administration to change the terms of our contracts and increase course loads and remove tenure.

The foregoing remarks are from a statement sent to Daily Nous by John Hittinger, chai..

Philosophy Under Threat at Univ. of St. Thomas Houston (updated)

It is standard operating procedure at the University of St. Thomas (Houston) for faculty to receive and return their renewal contracts for the following academic year by May 15th. May 15th has come and gone, and not one of the 11 members of the university’s Department of Philosophy has received their contract (neither has anyone in the English Department there). (mo..

Humanities Center at Johns Hopkins Might Be Closed (incl. petition; guest post from JHU PhD Student) – Updated

The Johns Hopkins University Humanities Center, which counts several philosophers among its core and associated faculty, puts on philosophical programs, and describes its members as sharing “a commitment to philosophical questions,” is under threat of closure. (more…)

Philosophy Program At IPFW To Be Eliminated (guest post by Charlene Elsby) / UPDATE: Link to Petition

The Philosophy Department at Indiana University – Purdue University, Fort Wayne (IPFW) will be completely eliminated by January, 2017, according to a plan announced by the Purdue Board of Trustees and IPFW Chancellor, Vicky Carwein. (more…)

Update on the Threat to Philosophy at IPFW (guest post by Charlene Elsby)

In August we learned that the Philosophy Department at Indiana University – Purdue University, Fort Wayne (IPFW) was confronting the possibility of a “restructuring” that could result in its elimination, owing to the university’s financial problems and what appeared to be a stacking of the deck against units in the school’s College of Arts and Sciences in the proced..

Philosophy Department at IPFW Under Threat (guest post by Charlene Elsby)

The Philosophy Department at Indiana University – Purdue University, Fort Wayne (IPFW) is facing an ominous-sounding “restructuring,” owing to financial concerns. The university faces a $2-3 million revenue shortfall in next year’s $110 million budget, according to the News-Sentinel. (more…)

Philosophy at University of Wyoming Threatened

The philosophy program at the University of Wyoming has been targeted for “elimination” by its administration in the face of impending budget cuts. Word of this came in a letter to the editor of the Laramie Boomerang from Renée M. Laegreid, a professor of history at the school (and brought to my attention by Matthew Weiner). Laegreid writes:

Governor Mead announc..

Rider University Avoids Eliminating Philosophy Major

At the end of October it was reported that Rider University would be slashing 20 jobs and 13 majors—including philosophy. However, now that the university and the school’s chapter of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) have come to a new agreement, these cuts will be avoided entirely. A statement from Rider University’s communications office, ..

Center for Dewey Studies Is at Risk

The Center for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, is facing drastic budget cuts that would severely curtail its activities, according to a report in The Daily Egyptian, the school paper.

Over the past fifty years The Center for Dewey Studies put together and published 37 volumes of John Dewey’s Collected Works, and over 22,000 pieces of De..

A Philosophy Department’s Impressive Fight For Survival

Robert Stufflebeam, chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of New Orleans, shares some of the challenges his department faces, and some of the measures they have implemented in order to survive in hostile circumstances. He writes:

I’m the chair of the only remaining Department of Philosophy at a public university in the state of Louisiana. (LSU has ..

“The Cuts Make No Academic Sense”

As reported last month, the University of Southern Maine has announced drastic cuts to faculty and staff and an academic restructuring so as to make up for a budget shortfall. The philosophy department there was merged with the English department, and there is one (unconfirmed) report that one philosopher was forced into retirement on pain of termination with reduce..

U. of Southern Maine Cuts Affect Philosophy

The University of Maine has announced that it will be eliminating 50 faculty positions and 100 staff positions and restructuring its academic departments so as to make up for a $16 million deficit. Inside Higher Ed reports: “The English, philosophy and history departments would be combined into a single humanities department, Provost Joseph W. McDonnell said in an e..