On Wednesday, October 19th, students showed up to the University Senate meeting on Westside Campus dressed in funeral attire and carrying signs to protest the proposed elimination of majors in the Social Sciences department. Sitting and standing around the perimeter of the room, student protesters filled the normally near-empty audience seating to capacity. Although not included on the roster as a matter of standard senate procedure, the presence of these silent protesters was nevertheless acknowledged by multiple speakers.

In his address to the University Senate, Dr. Beran focused on the governance structure and process itself rather than directly commenting on the concerns raised by students, saying “Well I think that this is a perfect example of what shared governance is all about. I think you’ve got a proposal that’s been put into motion, it’s your job to consider it. It’s certainly anyone’s position to be able to take a position [sic] about it as it goes through the process it will get a hearing, and an opportunity to hear all the different sides on it, and I look forward to that.”

Dr. Beran did allude to the students present in the audience, applauding student participation in university politics, saying “I stood right where those students are standing, thirty years ago, actually forty years ago on several different issues, and I respect them for taking a position. I think this institution has some hard decisions to make, and they should be made deliberately, and they should be made over a period of time, involving a variety of people, and a variety of people who have a stake in it, as well as those who have a bigger stake just in the university. So I completely respect the process. I get the process. I’m not against the process. And I will participate in it fully as a member of the process. So thank you for your positions and for your statements and for your perspectives.”

Provost Missy Alexander followed, focusing on similar themes, adding “Some of the work around decisions about academic programs that will continue to go on this year will be in conversations at the chairs meeting tomorrow, where I ask them to take a deeper look at the academic programs reports produced by the summer working group on academic programs. It should be made clear to everyone that there’s not a single recommendation in that report. It is simply a summary of strengths and weaknesses in programs.”

Other speakers were more direct. “Our Dean of Arts and Sciences at WCSU, Michelle Brown, documented most of this last March, and sat on it.” Dr. Lumbantobing, Professor of Economics and AAUP Chapter President said in a scathing speech. “She never had the courage or the professional courtesy to mention it. But I’m not here to talk about the dean’s duplicity. The real problem is much higher. The Provost bears much of the blame. She has made a number of serious missteps and has instituted some harmful policies that have in fact reduced enrollment. I see her as almost solely responsible for our enrollment problems.”

Dr. Lumbantobing reserved her harshest criticism, however, for Dr. Beran.

“My real amazement is with, however, our new president Paul Beran. And here I have to congratulate this man. The BOR has found someone who has done more to make a laughingstock of this university in a matter of months than other administrators have done in years. Only we are not laughing. We are angry as hell. You are harming people. Some of the most vulnerable people in this state. Why don’t our largely black, brown, working class, and other less privileged students deserve the same options as students of privilege? Because let us be crystal clear: that’s what you’re saying here.”

Other topics discussed included the projected budget deficits for the university and state university system, and the continuing existence of an ombudsperson within the administration. Before adjourning, Dr. Roche, of the Writing & Literature department (and faculty advisor for the Echo) asked that a note be made in the minutes to acknowledge the students present.

According to the latest information received by the Echo, the majors currently proposed for elimination are Anthropology/Sociology, Economics; and Social Sciences, which includes options in Family Studies, Global Studies, and Multi-cultural Studies, as well as Physics, Astronomy, and Meteorology. Additionally, minors in Anthropology, Conflict Resolution, Cultural Resource Management, Geography, International Studies, Multi-cultural Studies including African American focus, Sociology, and Urban Studies are recommended for elimination. The major and minor in Political Science has also been put on notice for possible elimination pending a more thorough review.

For many of the student activists, the continuation of these programs is both a personal career issue, preserving the value of the WCSU degree, and a moral dilemma for the university and the state. One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Echo ”I’m disabled, and WestConn, the training that I got here still prepared me to live in this world. I think that especially with COVID there’s a lot of that being shunted to the wayside, but the training that I got in the social sciences when I graduated has allowed me to keep organizing community events and doing things for my community. The state of Connecticut educated me, and I’m here to be a pain because of the training that they gave me. I don’t want and can’t imagine living in a world without social sciences departments.”

These proposed cuts are currently in a 60-day review and discussion period as part of the university governance process. A special emergency senate meeting has been scheduled for October 28th in White Hall to discuss the matter in greater depth. Further student protests are expected.