My Endorsement

I want to endorse the petition that is being circulated and encourage everyone to sign it.

I went to the all-college faculty meeting last Thursday. What was most striking about the meeting is that other departments are being quite seriously hurt by the cuts this year.

The more signatures that are affixed to the petition, the clearer it will be to the Chancellor that there are real worries about the future of our college and our university. At the meeting, it was also obvious that the administration doesn't really believe that faculty are seriously upset at the prospect of increased teaching loads and numbers of students. Attempts to communicate this to the chancellor earlier have been basically ignored.

Although the petition is fairly vaguely worded, we should all affix our signatures in order to make it clear that we are not comfortable with the way the cuts are being taken. One example raised at the meeting: Shouldn't we be seeing the reduction of the numbers of deans & vice-deans instead of a reduction of numbers of course offerings? Michael, as COLS dean, oversees 1/2 the faculty in the university. There are 3 deans (and staffs) for the other 1/2. It is not our job, necessarily, to find cuts, but it is likely that there are better locations.