Phase II of Program Reduction

Almost twenty department chairs and directors received a letter last week indicating that their units were moving into Phase II of the Program Review/Reduction Process. Just in case your anxiety level wasn’t high enough – with omicron surging, democracy eroding, and troops moving – you may have gotten word that your unit now must explain why a set of “driver metrics” do not warrant any of several possible corrective measures. Among those measures: “adjusted” resources, unit reorganization, program redesign, and targeted reduction.
 
The memo states that “the number of Article 22 processes will be limited.” Is that supposed to be reassuring? The retrenchment process in Article 22 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which was used to reduce and reorganize the Intensive English Language Program last year, provides timelines for notification, provisional planning, and input from the targeted unit, the Faculty Senate, and the union. If any such processes are to fully play out before the end of the current academic year, they will need to commence fairly soon after department chairs and directors submit their pleadings to the Provost in early March. Your union representatives are already beginning to reach out to members in vulnerable units to discuss what may be coming and how to prepare.