Cuts and Threats to Philosophy Programs

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..