EVANSVILLE — The University of Evansville's Faculty Senate voted "no confidence" Thursday afternoon in a draft plan that calls for the elimination of 17 majors and a quarter of the faculty.
The resolution passed 14-1 with one abstention, according to a news release from the UE chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
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The draft academic realignment plan, unveiled by UE President Christopher Pietruszkiewicz one week ago, will be finalized early next year. The proposal will likely go before UE's Board of Trustees for approval in February. Academic changes would be implemented in the fall 2022 semester.
The resolution points out, according to AAUP, that faculty weren't involved in drafting the plan and that it doesn't follow university policy on curricular changes.
It asks Pietruszkiewicz to publicly commit in writing that all proposed curricular changes in the final plan be given to the school's Curriculum Committee. The committee would vote and send its recommendation to the Faculty Senate. Changes the body approves would go to the president for approval before making their way to the Board of Trustees.
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The resolution now advances to a full faculty vote, which will take seven days.
Pietruszkiewicz did not attend Thursday's meeting.
"I was not available for today’s Faculty Senate meeting, which was not a regularly planned meeting," he wrote in a statement to the Courier & Press. "We are working with faculty to schedule another meeting to answer questions and hear feedback. We have had productive private discussions this week with some members of the faculty and expect those discussions to continue."
The proposed cuts, which the university says are necessary to respond to changes in higher education, have provoked outrage at UE and beyond.
On Tuesday, protesters gathered at the edge of campus calling for Pietruszkiewicz to resign or be fired, and the president himself was the target of a faculty-wide "no confidence" vote in October as professors mobilized in response to word of impending cuts.
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