Faculty Senate Meeting | Photo by Soham Parikh | Edited by Kayli Thompson | The Wright State Guardian
On Dec. 7 the Wright State University (WSU) Faculty Senate met and discussed coronavirus updates for winter break, proposed faculty cuts and a reimagined university setting.
Coronavirus news
Taking the floor first, WSU President Sue Edwards spoke to the Faculty Senate about the latest coronavirus news and ensured the Senate that communication over winter break will continue.
“We are in close communication with the Ohio Gov., and will continue to keep students and staff updated of the latest coronavirus news via email throughout winter break,” said Edwards.
Faculty reductions
Edwards also discussed the proposed faculty cults announced in a communications email on Nov. 12.
“This has not happened overnight. Our enrollment has continued to decline, and I have certainly spoken to the faculty senate about this in my time here. At this time, we simply have too many faculty members for the number of students we have enrolled,” said Edwards.
These reductions in workforce didn’t come as an easy decision for the university's administration.
“This is certainly not where we want to be, where any of us want to be, but this is where we are,” said Edwards.
Edwards declined to answer any questions on the topic of faculty reductions, as at this time those questions are premature.
Immediately following statements made by Edwards, AAUP-WSU President and Faculty Senator Dr. Noeleen McIlvenna raised numerous complaints about the university’s administration, in what she calls their continued efforts to attack tenure and an overall lack of direction by administrators.
“What happens to academic freedom in this reimagined university?” said Dr. McIlvenna to Interim Provost Dr. Douglas Leaman. “The enrollment projection model that all of this information is based on, doesn’t even have a covariate. How do you defend these statistics?
Faculty/student ratio
Associate professor and Faculty Senator Amelia Hubbard raised a concern regarding WSU’s projected faculty to student ratio, stating that currently the university is sitting at the national average.
“The President says that we have too many faculty members for the amount of students that we have,” said Hubbard. “Can you tell us a range of how many millions need to be saved? What is the appropriate student to faculty ratio that the administration believes we need to reach? The national center for education statistics states 18:1 is the national average for students to faculty, and the Wright State website states 2020 enrollment as 12,234 students with 684 full-time faculty. This is right at that 18:1 ratio.”
Interim Provost Dr. Douglas Leaman responded to Senator Hubbard’s question.
“We are looking at what is needed to serve our student population. There is not a magical number there, and this not something that I am pushing from the top down. This is something that’s going to come out of the discussions as to what's needed within the units,” said Provost Leaman
Next meeting
The next scheduled Faculty Senate meeting will take place on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021 at 2:30 p.m. in room E156 of the Student Union Endeavor room.
