Adrian, MI – The Adrian College Association of Professors (ACAP) and the Administration/Board of Trustees are at odds with each other over the intent to layoff educators and eliminate several departments.
WLEN News reached out to the Administration at Adrian College and the ACAP to get their sides of the story.
Here is the press release sent to us by the Adrian College Association of Professors:
“On Feb. 21, 2020, the Adrian College Association of Professors (ACAP) was sent a letter of intent by Mr. Jerry Wright, Vice President for Business Affairs, that Adrian College intended to eliminate 10 faculty over the summer followed by another 12 layoffs in the fall of 2021. Along with the intended layoffs, the Departments of History, Theater; and Religion, Philosophy and Leadership were also to be eliminated by the start of the 2021-2022 academic year. The proposed academic cuts were announced prior to COVID-19 budgetary concerns.
Over the summer seven full-time faculty members were laid off including all full-time faculty in the award winning freshman speech and writing department (CORE), the sole art history professor and professors in teacher education, business and math.
On August 21, 2020, Wright sent a second memo providing additional details on the proposed layoffs and department eliminations outlined in February. In the August memo Wright notes, “The college plans to exercise its right to eliminate the following departments {history, religion and philosophy and theater}, including notification to personnel that those individuals will not be retained for academic service beginning in the 2021-2022 academic year.”
Also in that memo 11 faculty positions were included for elimination. While the college has indicated a willingness to reconsider these decisions, that offer was also extended and accepted in February, and in spite of concessions and cost-saving suggestions from faculty, no progress has been made to date.
As a liberal arts college, we expect our students to take a broad range of courses to build a foundation of knowledge and develop life skills, including critical thinking, creativity, information literacy and more. In addition to serving their many majors, these departments provide foundational knowledge to support many other areas of study. For example, a number of pre-health students majoring in biology seek training in ethics through the philosophy department with an eye toward ethical quandaries in medicine. The History department supports many of our Teacher Education programs that require this information for teacher certification. Even as our Theater majors enter the workforce successfully in their field, many more students build self-confidence, public speaking skills, and develop appreciation for the arts through their participation in campus productions.
As a college affiliated with the United Methodist Church the Department of Religion, Philosophy and Leadership is solely responsible for the religion and philosophy education at Adrian College. This work not only in a student’s area of specialization, but across the curriculum, is one of the key aspects that sets small liberal arts education apart from technical training, and gives our students a real advantage in the job market. Despite the proposed academic layoffs the college moved ahead with the development of an e-sports team beginning in the 2020-2021 academic year, including hiring a coach and creating a new state of the art facility for the team in Shipman Library. The space will feature 37 state of the art gaming stations and include a player lounge and a viewing area for spectators.
Adrian College is a liberal arts college in the United Methodist tradition with over 1,800 students. The 2020- 2021 academic year has a freshman cohort of 602 students and the 2019-2020 academic year saw the largest ever freshman class with 700 incoming freshmen. The NCAA Division III college offers 44 sports teams for students to participate in and 40+ majors and pre-professional programs.
For more information on the accomplishments of ACAP members visit the union’s Facebook page or contact Spokesperson Dr. Jeff Lake.”
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Adrian College gave this statement on their social media, and sent it to WLEN News:
“In response to recent posts on social media, please know that Adrian College has not made any final decisions with respect to eliminating majors, minors, or academic departments.
A committee is being formed made up of faculty and administrators to review majors and minors and to make recommendations to the President and the board of trustees on the most efficient and effective organizational structure for academic programming.
More information will be forthcoming as the committee continues its work. We anticipate this committee will meet throughout the academic year.”
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