Philosopher Nick Zangwill, who holds the Ferens Chair in Philosophy at Hull, writes with more information:

The current situation in Hull is that the final decision concerning whether or not to suspend the Single Honours Philosophy program has not yet been made, but will be made some time in the new year. Nevertheless, many of our programs (combinations of Philosophy with other subjects) have already been slashed, which will hit recruitment and create problems in the future. The university seems not to grasp the different roles of modules and programs. It is reasonable that a module has a minimum number on it, but a program is a matter of what combinations of subjects students do, and smaller numbers on programs should be acceptable, since modules can service a wide variety of programs. They have just cut English and Philosophy, quite a popular combination with seven applicants. The motivation seems not to be financial since this is throwing away at least 200k pounds. Last year they cut Philosophy and Religion which threw away even more. Philosophy pays its way, more than most other subjects, and we have a good NSS (the National Student Survey), and recruitment for the few remaining programs is good, certainly by comparison with other subjects. (The university will not allow a Philosophy REF (research) submission, which will hit recruitment in the future.) Little evidence or justification is given for any of the decisions, which all seem to be ways of losing money for the University. The only claim that is floated is the incredible one that students don’t like a wide choice of programs, which is contrary to or not supported by all sources of evidence (including UCAS, DataHE and NSS). Students who cannot do the combination of subjects they are interested in at one institution will go to another that does. (Local competitor institutions are currently expanding in philosophy, picking up our potential students.) The decision-makers seem to be making rash decisions, perhaps so as to be seen to be doing something, when these measures will obviously make things much worse. Certainly, Philosophy is under threat in Hull from these irrational measures. We are very grateful for the support we have received from philosophers around the UK.

We've seen administrators-run-beserk in the UK before–recall the King's College, London case where, thanks to international outcry, the administration backed down.