On Wednesday, the Drake University Faculty Senate voted in favor of eliminating three academic programs. The three programs were the religion major, the East Asian studies minor and the graduate certificate in evidence-based health care.
Faculty Senate voted in favor of keeping six of the nine programs that were recommended for elimination. The senate is at odds with the recommendations to eliminate the physics, astronomy and rhetoric majors; the rhetoric minor; and the master of accounting and master of public administration programs. Drake Provost Sue Mattison recommended the programs for elimination with input from the deans.
“The Faculty Senate’s vote will now be conveyed to the Board of Trustees for its consideration next week,” President Marty Martin said in an email on Thursday.
Drake is experiencing a budget deficit related to a trend of enrollment decline in colleges and universities across the country, according to Drake’s “Shaping Our Future” internal site shared with students. Board of Trustees Chair Mark Ernst said that in October, the Board agreed to provide resources for Drake to take two years to balance its operating budget by fiscal year 2026.
“The task of balancing the institution’s operating budget by fiscal year 2026 remains in front of us and the result of program review will be factored into reaching that outcome,” Martin said.
According to Mattison, the Board of Trustees can eliminate academic programs without the senate’s consent.
“But that’s not their intent,” Mattison said in an interview on April 1. “Because it’s not in the best interest of the University.”
Mattison said she didn’t know what the Board would do if Faculty Senate voted against the recommendations. Ernst said he did not want to speculate on what actions the Board may or may not take.
Martin will review the recommendations and present them to the Board of Trustees, according to “Shaping Our Future.” He will tell campus about the Board’s final decisions on April 29.
Drake is laying off “a number of probationary faculty,” according to an April 12 email from Mattison to Drake faculty and staff. In a March interview, Mattison said the probationary period is the first six years of employment before faculty are tenured, reviewed for tenure or have a more permanent continuous term.
The email said the faculty will receive letters of non-renewal by April 15 at 5 p.m. Academics is not the only area experiencing cuts; Drake is making cuts in departments across the University, according to the email.
On March 1, Mattison released a list of 13 academic programs that were recommended for elimination. By April 17, the number had dropped to nine after review of formal appeals and faculty input. Mattison sent a rationale document with reasons for why each of the nine programs should be eliminated to Drake faculty and staff.
Ernst said that the Board and its colleagues across Drake are called to balance Drake’s mission and fiscal integrity. He brought up the Board’s roles under University rules to make policy, manage resources and “‘act in accordance with the duties of care, loyalty, and obedience.’”
“These imperatives are kept clearly in focus as we address the pressing issues before us, always considering both the present and future of the institution,” Ernst said.
Why these three programs?
“While there is no doubt about the rich history of religious studies at Drake, currently 4 students are majoring in Religion,” the rationale document says.
If the religion major is cut, students can continue that history through other forms of religious study. Religion courses, Drake’s Comparison Project, summer Interfaith camps and the Meet My Religious Neighbor program will continue, according to the rationale. The faculty member whose position is being recommended for elimination will fill an open Drake position in law, politics and society (LPS). Drake would save about $125,000 from eliminating the major.
While Mattison’s initial recommendations on March 1 included the elimination of the religion minor, the minor was removed from the list. According to the rationale document, the faculty proposed creating an interdisciplinary religion minor, “drawing upon faculty from multiple areas.”
Religious studies professor Brad Crowell spoke up before the vote about the religion major.
“I believe that the religious studies program still has a lot to offer students at Drake,” Crowell said. “I am pleased that we are going to retain the minor.”
The East Asian minor was recommended for elimination “because it currently serves 3 students, and courses required in the minor are not offered,” the rationale says. The two history courses that students can choose from aren’t scheduled in the four-year plan for the History Department.
The rationale said that an “individualized” minor in the subject is still an option, using the coursework available with faculty advice.
According to the rationale document, the evidence-based health care graduate certificate currently serves seven students who are also pursuing a master’s degree.
The rationale said eliminating the certificate wouldn’t eliminate any faculty positions, but “savings would come from less stress on available human and financial resources.” Getting rid of the certificate would save Drake a projected $5,400 and free up faculty to teach in other programs.
Professors deliver rhetoric in favor of rhetoric programs
The rationale document said the rhetoric programs’ “curricular complexity” impacts the number of students who stay in the major. An average of 6.5 students have graduated each year over the last 11 years.
Faber McAlister, associate professor of rhetoric and media studies, said rhetoric has not aimed to be the biggest major.
“Most of our students are there because we address [Areas of Inquiry courses] and communication skills in exciting and appealing ways,” McAlister said during the April 17 Faculty Senate meeting. “So we play support to many other majors.”
Dylan Rollo, a visiting assistant professor of rhetoric and media studies, said studying rhetoric helps students understand ways in which manipulation happens in the current political times. He said this is foundational to being a good citizen and a citizen who can’t be easily swayed.
“I think that the proposal to cut the major is both a sign of the political times that we’re in and a clear call that we have to not let this happen,” Rollo said.
Minimum savings are projected to be at least $165,000, the rationale says.
Masters programs in accounting and public administration
Editor’s note: This section was updated on April 25.
Eliminating the masters in accounting program would have projected minimum savings of $30,780, according to the rationale document. Additional savings would come from less stress on available resources.
Accounting Chair Lori Solsma disagreed with the recommendation to eliminate the program. She said “the savings, if any, is very small.” She said there is a “quite large” potential loss.
Public Administration Chair Lance Noe said that despite a decline, over the past year, the public administration program has been growing quickly. Denise Hill, associate professor of practice in public administration, said the data was flawed and that the elimination would not yield the desired savings.
“I’m a product of this program,” Hill said. “I worked with people at all levels in agencies of state government and all sorts of nonprofit organizations, and the connection that most of them have with Drake is because of the MPA.”
The rationale projected that “in addition to $469,504 salary and benefit savings from one tenured and two continuous-term faculty lines, minimum savings from other expenses in the MPA will be at least $450,000.”
Physics and the “dreamy business” of astronomy
Editor’s note: This section was updated on April 25.
Provost Mattison’s rationale said the key consideration for cutting the physics and astronomy majors was enrollment and retention. Between 2015-2022, 106 unduplicated first-year students declared physics or astronomy as their first or second major, according to the rationale. A little less than half of those students left the physics or astronomy majors before the fall of their third year. 29 of those students left Drake. Between 2013 and 2023, physics averaged six graduates a year while astronomy averaged 1.3.
Another consideration in Mattison’s rationale was that a faculty member would continue as an emeritus research professor. The faculty member would continue to research with support from grants and train postdoctoral researchers. The rationale also said the Drake Observatory would continue to operate.
Visiting assistant professor Melissa Spencer spoke about the physics program. Spencer said work has been done toward improving retention.
“We completely understand about our retention and how that has been an issue,” Spencer said. “…We’re also on par still nationally with the other physics programs.”
Charles Nelson, associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics, spoke about the astronomy program. At a senate meeting on March 27, Nelson said Drake has a long history and tradition in physics and astronomy and opportunities would be lost. At Wednesday’s meeting, Nelson emphasized the connection to the James Webb Space Telescope or going to the moon, and said “we have a program that can send students on that.”
“Astronomy is a dreamy business,” Nelson said. “…I approach it as an opportunity for students to have meaningful personal lives.”
Education professor Jerrid Kruse said that astronomy is the first science and that humans “have yet to plumb the depths of” space and the ocean. He disagreed with the idea that something as “historical, as well as future-focused” as astronomy does not have a future potential.
The rationale projected that “in addition to $224,975 salary and benefit savings from two tenured faculty lines, minimum savings from other expenses in Physics and Astronomy will be at least $300,000.”
Visit timesdelphic.com for updates and for information about the astronomy and physics majors.
Morgen Neuhauser contributed to the writing.
