West Virginia University’s proposal to eliminate nearly a 10th of its majors and 169 full-time faculty positions from its flagship campus led hundreds of students to protest Monday, as a student union’s organizing power added volume to the online employee protestations and national media coverage that’s been buffeting the institution for more than a week.
Pressure on the administration to reverse its recommended cuts is growing as the WVU Board of Governors’ Sept. 15 vote on the proposals nears.
The suggested cuts—not the first in recent years at West Virginia—were discussed around the end of the spring and through the summer, but WVU’s big reveal of how extensive the proposed layoffs and degree reductions would be didn’t come until Aug. 11.
“Stop the Cuts!” was students’ first chant outside the Mountainlair student union Monday, followed by “Hey hey, ho ho, Gordon Gee has got to go!”
Gee has said he’s planning to retire in 2025 and remain a faculty member at WVU law school. His retirement announcement came a month before the university revealed how many degree offerings and faculty positions it was planning to slash.
“President Gee was responding to a question during a Faculty Senate meeting about his future plans,” April Kaull, a university spokeswoman, said of that retirement announcement. “While he’s focused on the work at hand now, he answered that he plans to retire after his extended contract expires in 2025.”
