The AAUP chapter at Purdue-West Lafayette executive committee voted today to endorse the following statement:
The Purdue (West Lafayette) chapter of the American Association of University Professors expresses shock and dismay at the disregard for shared governance at Marian University with respect to their plan to dissolve the Department of Political Science. The process by which the administration determined the department would be dissolved, with no formal declaration of financial exigency, against the overwhelming vote of the faculty senate to support Political Science, flies in the face of norms of shared governance and threatens the reputation of the university and the commitment to the excellent education of its students. AAUP-Purdue urges the Marian University Board of Trustees to revisit this decision and to return to the norms of shared governance that were established by the AAUP concerning the dissolution of academic programs.
On behalf of the chapter, the AAUP-Purdue executive committee has signed the petition in support of the department’s retention.