UE students protest academic realignment proposal

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - There was a campus protest Tuesday at the University of Evansville.

[Related: 2005 UE grad reacts to proposed cuts]

The event was supposed to be at the front oval on campus.

UE would not allow media on campus for the event, so protestors moved closer to the public sidewalk.

Students held signs and gave speeches against a proposed “academic realignment” by the UE board that would cut three departments, 17 majors, and nearly 40 faculty members.

At Tuesday’s protest, students voiced their concerns.

“The students do not agree with this academic realignment. So the way that I see this situation that is put before us right now is that one person, the president, has decided what the whole university, including faculty and students deem as higher education,” Brandi Beckham, the organizer of the protest said.

Students say they’re just asking for university officials to listen to them.

“Basically just to listen. Just listen to the demands and the requests of the students, the faculty and the alum, community members. It’s not just the faculty hurt by this, but everyone in the community hurt by this,” HarMonee Baltzell, another University of Evansville student said.

Faculty was present at the protest as well, echoing the student’s concerns.

“The faculty need to be part of the process in both the shared governance, which is a fundamental principle of UE and because they want to cut academic programs so we should be part of that discussion,” John Stamm, the Chair of the Physics Department said.

[Previous: UE announces academic realignment plan, multiple majors could be cut]

Majors such as music, philosophy and religion, computer science, and history could all be eliminated under the proposal.

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