When the announcement hit the Baker University campus that the political science major had been eliminated, students, alumni and faculty expressed their anger, shock and disappointment on the Internet.
STUDENTS<strong>STUDENTS</strong> STUDENTS
Senior Adam Keene isn’t a political science major; he’s a business major. When University President Pat Long announced that she would be at the Baker University Student Senate meeting Tuesday, Keene’s Facebook status encouraged students to attend the meeting and voice their concerns.
“Please make sure you have the full story before reacting,” his status read. “Remember how BU encourages critical thinking?!”
After the meeting, Keene commented on a link provided by The Baker Orange on the coverage of the story.
“The ‘leadership team,’ consisting of a variety of administrators, handled the evening very well,” he wrote in his post. “They were all honest and passionate in their responses and it was clear from their tone, expressions, etc., that this process has been one full of emotion and difficult decisions and has not been taken lightly.”
Student Senate President Patti Greenbaum sat at a table in the Harter Union lobby Monday advising and informing students about the eliminated program.
“We’re trying to make sure people are aware that we’re saying we don’t want political science to be cut,” Greenbaum said. “We want to make sure they’re aware and informed about what it is.”
Kendra Hanson is a senior political science major.
She found out about the program elimination on Feb. 4 in her political science senior seminar class, which is taught by Assistant Professor of Political Science Ryan Beasley.
“Obviously I was shocked, I really wasn’t expecting it. I knew they were going to be making program cuts, but I really didn’t think that political science was going to be one of them just because of the successful graduates that the program produces.”
Hanson said she will be graduating in May, but she still wants to do what she can for the underclassmen.
“I think I could be speaking for all the alumni and current students that the should know how we feel about it,” she said.
ALUMNI<strong>ALUMNI</strong> ALUMNI
When she was at Baker, Amanda Hass was a psychology major. Now she is a law student at Washburn and expects to graduate in 2011.
“Although I was not a poli-sci major, this is a complete outrage,” she wrote on Facebook. “So glad my degree is being devalued but we make sure that athletics don’t suffer.”
Michael Lynch, associate professor of political science at the University of Kansas and a 1998 Baker graduate, said teaching political science is important, especially at a liberal arts college.
“One of the goals of a liberal arts school is to give you a broad understanding of many facets of the world, particularly for political science,” he said. “You can’t really understand a society unless you understand how that society makes decisions and that’s really the essence of government and political science.”
Lynch graduated from Baker with a degree in economics.
“I was close to being a double-major I suppose,” he said. “I took a lot of classes in political science while I was there, specifically the type of classes they are getting rid of … I just don’t understand how students are going to have a full understanding of America and our societies and communities if they don’t know how we make decisions and how our laws are made. I’m very disappointed.”
As an alumnus, Lynch is concerned about the financial situation at Baker.<br/>"I understand that all schools are having budgetary problems. We certainly are at KU as well. But once you start firing faculty, or releasing them, or reassigning them or whatever, especially tenured faculty, that's really concerning," he said. "As an (alumnus), that really makes me worry about the financial health of the institution.""I understand that all schools are having budgetary problems. We certainly are at KU as well. But once you start firing faculty, or releasing them, or reassigning them or whatever, especially tenured faculty, that's really concerning," he said. "As an (alumnus), that really makes me worry about the financial health of the institution."
“I understand that all schools are having budgetary problems. We certainly are at KU as well. But once you start firing faculty, or releasing them, or reassigning them or whatever, especially tenured faculty, that’s really concerning,” he said. “As an (alumnus), that really makes me worry about the financial health of the institution.”
Lynch said he heard through the grapevine about the program eliminations and changes.
“Some of the other alumni, at least on the online postings on the Orange and some of the e-mails I’ve received, (said) this might affect how they consider contributing to the school in the future,” he said. “I’m not sure I’m willing to say I’ll never give to Baker again, but this is a kind of disturbing direction and it kind of makes me wonder the long-term reputation of the university.”
FACULTY<strong>FACULTY</strong> FACULTY
Professor of Political Science Bruce Anderson was a member of the joint faculty committee, which made recommendations to University President Pat Long and the Board of Trustees regarding reduction and reallocation.
“The recommendation was that political science and my position in it be eliminated,” Anderson said. “This was accepted by the president … the education committee of the board approved it, and then it was put out for a vote by the rest of the Board of Trustees, who also approved it.”
Anderson didn’t participate in any discussion in the committee meetings that pertained to the political science major.
“It had become relatively apparent fairly early in the game that that was probably going to be one of the things that was up for discussion and as we closed on the deadlines in December, it became more and more clear,” he said.
Although he will remain a part of the Baker community as the head tennis coach, he will not be teaching any courses.
“I think it’s a tragic, tragic awful thing for Baker,” he said. “It just does not seem as though anybody thought this through very clearly. So, I’m appalled. Personally, but as an educator, I frankly find it very difficult to believe that a liberal arts institution thinks that they can somehow wander along without teaching American government.”
After the announcement that the political science program was being cut, Anderson spent most of that night and the following morning answering questions and concerns from alumni.
“I think it’s safe to say that the alumni of this program are some of the smartest people Baker has ever produced, they are some of the most successful people that Baker has ever produced and right now they are some of the most angriest people that Baker has ever produced,” he said.
Karen Exon, professor of health, sport and human performance, originally came to Baker for a one-year appointment to teach social sciences, specifically American history.
“When it became apparent to me last year that the institution had some financial issues and that was made evident to all of us in the form of cutting staff and other positions, peripheral to the actual teaching of students, I thought to myself, ‘if it ever comes down to reductions being needed in the academic side of things, I might consider an even early reduction of my academic sides,'” Exon said. “This fall, when that became a reality, I began seriously thinking about voluntarily stepping back from academic responsibilities, so here at the end of last semester, I did. I volunteered to step out from out of academic responsibilities.”
Because of her background in political science and American government, Exon said she is shocked by the announcement that the program was eliminated.
"I was in a state of disbelief and I was outraged," she said. "I don't believe that the faculty committee that was asked to examine programs and fellow faculty nor … administrators who accepted those proposals know what political science is."<br/>&#160;