The benefits of the philosophy major to liberal arts experience

Recently, the provost released his recommendation for the reduction, impaction, merger and closure of the first group of several struggling departments. Included in this first group is philosophy.

The provost’s recommendation for the reduction of the philosophy department is the closure of the philosophy major, adjustments to the minor and reducing the number of faculty members from six to three. This is part of the provost’s plan to reduce overall faculty by 25 full-time equivalents, or FTE, to maintain a 12:1 student to faculty ratio.

In addition to philosophy, classics, Asian studies, theater and peace studies are also in this first group slated for reductions. Interestingly, the only department to have a specific number of faculty to reduce is philosophy. Why specifically philosophy? I do not know. There is little transparency in the reasoning behind these recommendations.

Nonetheless, to lay off any faculty in these struggling departments is a tragedy, as this is not an issue specific to CSB+SJU but is a trend across the country. Most of the faculty who are laid off in these less popular departments will struggle to find employment at another university and will very likely have to find employment outside of education. The best outcome would be that the 25 faculty the provost recommends cutting can retire, rather than be laid off.

In the case of the philosophy department, however, most of the faculty are not near retirement age. To reduce the faculty by three means that there would have to be layoffs. It is also unclear why the provost’s recommendations are so urgent. The cuts to faculty, it seems, are to be done as soon as possible, whether it is through retirement or layoffs.

But when these layoffs mean that the faculty affected by them would find it difficult to find another job teaching, the university should be sparing with them and instead look to retire as many of the 25 faculty that need to be cut as possible. This could be done by rolling out a retirement incentive package, one that is fair and attractive to faculty who would otherwise not retire for a few more years.

Then, depending on the effectiveness of the retirement package, go back to the academic program prioritization reports as well as the provost’s recommendations to make further cuts. As of now, the university has yet to roll out such a retirement incentive package.

CSB+SJU has done something similar in the past. I spoke with a faculty member, who wishes to remain unnamed, about this past package. They said that the package was not attractive at all and that they did not know of any of their colleagues who took it. They also expressed annoyance that they had just been put through the ringer with the block schedule, having to retool classes for the year of block classes and then changing them back to fit the regular schedule, all while receiving no extra compensation for the extra work this entailed. Now, facing layoffs after that process adds insult to injury. If the reduction of faculty is inevitable, it is better for everyone to make those reductions from retirements, not layoffs.