COLS Petition in the Works

At the all faculty meeting last week, the large number of participants decided that we needed to make a collective statement about our unhappiness about the ways that the latest round of budget cuts are being implemented.

Here is the petition as it is being circulated:

We, the undersigned, are deeply disturbed by the inevitable detrimental impact of the proposed university budget cuts on students and the academic mission of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Raising minimum class sizes, cutting course offerings, reducing support for faculty research, and raising course loads will clearly diminish the quality of instruction and drastically decrease time dedicated to students. Additionally, raising course loads and reducing support for faculty research threaten our ability to maintain our academic accreditation. Reducing faculty research undermines our ability to credibly teach and serve as professional role models for our students. The dilemma of fund allocation, though made difficult by the state budget, can be productively reconsidered. We therefore call for a reconsideration of the allocation of university funds by the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor, to best protect the teaching and research mission of this university.

The language is a bit vague, in the hopes that a large number of faculty members will sign on.