Today’s higher education implosion news comes from my graduate alma mater, Claremont Graduate University, which emailed everyone yesterday about the imminent closure of its graduate program in philosophy. I’ll update this if I get any better inside information, but I suspect declining enrollment is the main cause, though I hear many programs at CGU are running deeply in the red, so this may be just the first program to go under. Here’s some of the language from the dean of the school of arts and humanities:
You know from following higher education headlines that department and program closures at universities across our country are far more common now than they were even a decade ago. The fact that they have now become commonplace does not mean they are easy to understand or accept, especially when they happen at your own alma mater.
In recent weeks a substantial amount of misinformation about the process and its particulars has circulated. Interim President Adams’s note speaks to many of those details. I simply want to affirm a few fundamental facts.
First, this decision does not in any way represent a weakening of the university’s commitment to the humanities. Ongoing program review necessitates that the board and administration focus on areas that we believe have the best opportunities for current and future success.
Maybe the university is indeed committed to the humanities, but somehow we never hear of business or computer science programs being shrunk or discontinued.
Elsewhere, in an unrelated story (or is it?):
UNL faculty member guilty of vandalizing NRA lobbyist’s home with fake blood
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty member must pay a $500 fine for spraying fake blood on the Virginia residence of a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association.
Patricia Hill, a research assistant professor in UNL’s sociology department, was found guilty of misdemeanor destruction of property Monday.
The incident took place on Jan. 11 in Alexandria, Virginia.
A prosecutor said Hill “can exercise her First Amendment right” by protesting Chris Cox’s role with the NRA. But the prosecutor said Hill took it too far by committing vandalism. The prosecutor said the incident also caused distress for the Cox family.
A sociology professor. What a surprise.
Hat tip: Power Line contributor Dave Begley.
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