Their letter to University leadership (earlier coverage):

Dear President Cudd, Provost Chabon, Dean Rosenstiel, Associate Dean Carlson, and Associate Dean Oslund,

We, the faculty of the Department of Philosophy, are writing to request the immediate reversal of the decision to terminate the positions of our colleagues Dr. Brian Elliott, Dr. Monica Mueller, and Dr. Albert Spencer III. This opaquely-reasoned decision jeopardizes the Department of Philosophy’s long-term viability, its ability to offer a diverse curriculum, as well as high-profile community-facing programs such as the Oregon High School and Middle School Ethics Bowls.

The elimination of faculty has been framed as “due to changes in their departments’ programmatic and curricular needs.” However, decisions have apparently been based on an analysis that targets departments with too many classes of fewer than 12 students. This makes the Dean’s Office’s decision unclear since, according to its own analysis, shared with the CLAS Curriculum Committee, Philosophy does not have a particularly large number of classes with fewer than 11 students. Compared to all CLAS departments, it is below both the mean and median in low-enrolling classes. Nonetheless, the College’s strategy has been to eliminate philosophy adjuncts, followed by eliminating non-tenure track faculty, with the idea that tenure-track faculty can step in to meet curricular needs.

The Dean’s Office is operating under the rationale that faculty are fungible. Dr. Elliott, Dr. Mueller, and Dr. Spencer each teach 9 courses yearly. Together, they taught 910 students last academic year for a total of 3,640 SCH, an average of 33 students per class. All three are known as inspirational teachers and mentors to our majors. Moreover, they each teach classes that other colleagues in the department cannot.

Their classes include central courses for the Race & Ethnic Studies requirement, such as Philosophy of Race, Indigenous Philosophy, Queer Philosophy, and Latinx Philosophy. They also include Philosophy of Education, the Philosophy for Children Capstone, and the Philosophy Summer Camp for high school students. Other classes include the Metamorphosis First Year Inquiry and Feminist Philosophy, taught at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility for women. These faculty also are primarily responsible for teaching high enrolling general education classes, such as Environmental Ethics, Philosophy of Sex and Love, Philosophy of Work and Leisure, and Philosophy of Sport.

Over and above their high teaching load, our colleagues have produced a remarkable amount of scholarship. Over the last seven years while at PSU, they have (taken together) published three books in major presses, with a further two books forthcoming in 2025, on topics such as urban revitalization, climate change, and our gaming culture. These publications support PSU’s effort to be a top research institution, and allow PSU to garner an international reputation as a place for high-quality and timely research. 

Eliminating three of our most dynamic colleagues would be a devastating blow to the department. The department does not have the expertise and/or capacity to offer these classes, so this threatens a vicious spiral: offering fewer popular classes that further PSU’s mission will lead to declining enrollment. Moreover, our department has been recognized by OnlineU as one of the nation’s top online programs for philosophy. With the elimination of our adjunct faculty, it is already difficult to staff our online degree pathway.

To be clear about the impact of the Dean Rosenstiel’s decision, the loss of these three colleagues means:

• The department will no longer be able to offer an online degree.
• It will no longer be able to host the Oregon High School Ethics Bowl, Oregon Middle School Ethics Bowl, or the Philosophy Summer Camp.
• It will not be able to contribute to PSU’s Race & Ethnic Studies requirement.
• It will not be able to offer many of its reliably high-enrolling classes, as these three NTTF colleagues also teach core major requirements, which will have to be filled by tenured faculty.

Beyond the devastating effect that this decision has on our department, there is a further issue: the CLAS Dean’s Office has not followed PSU’s own commitments in arriving at this decision. President Cudd announced on her blog that decisions about eliminations would be made using the following criteria:

1. Alignment with Strategic Plan: How does each program align with our strategic plan’s purpose, guiding commitments, vision for 2030, and draft strategic imperatives?
2. Academic Results: Are students successfully completing degrees within these programs?
3. Market Data: What do students and employers want from these programs?
4. Financial Sustainability: How do programs contribute to our financial sustainability, and what opportunities exist to improve upon this contribution?

As far as we can ascertain, none of these criteria has been used to guide decision-making. According to the Gray DI data that was supposed to inform decisions, Philosophy is at the 97th percentile for Student Demand, 99th percentile for Competitive Intensity, and 82 percentile for Employment. Surely, this indicates a department with potential for growth, rather than a department that should be targeted for the elimination of faculty positions. 

While we understand the need to be fiscally responsible in the current economic environment, it is hard to imagine that these cuts will have anything but detrimental effects on the whole, both to the Philosophy Department and to PSU at large. In view of the preceding, we strongly urge a reconsideration of these devastating cuts to the PSU Philosophy Department.

Sincerely,

Brad Berman, Associate Professor, Philosophy

Angela Coventry, Professor and Chair, Philosophy

Brian Elliott, Associate Professor, Philosophy

Robert Gillis, Teaching Assistant Professor, Philosophy

Maurice Hamington, Professor of Philosophy, Philosophy

Avram Hiller, Associate Professor, Philosophy

Aleksandar Jokic, Professor, Philosophy

Monica Mueller, Teaching Assistant Professor, Philosophy

Alex Sager, Professor, Philosophy, Philosophy and University Studies

Tom Seppalainen, Associate Professor, Philosophy

Albert Spencer III, Teaching Assistant Professor, Philosophy

David Weber, Senior Instructor II

Kevin Wichowski-Hill, Professor, Philosophy