No official decision was reached at the meeting of the Academic Affairs subcommittee of the board of trustees on Friday, Feb. 10, regarding the recommendation to close the department of Public Policy and Counseling and the department of Family Therapy. The recommendation was made by Vice President of Academic Affairs Manoj Patankar.

Patankar declined to comment at this time, but he wanted to relate that the decision is still being deliberated.

“I think we all felt hopeful that the departments and the University can work with the administration to agree on an evaluation that will help move the University forward,” Craig Smith, chair of Counseling and Family Therapy, said.

The board meeting was met with a demonstration in the hallway outside of Verhaegan Hall 219 comprising students, faculty and staff from the two departments. Students made signs expressing their dissatisfaction with the recommendation, exhibiting their support for the departments and calling the board to consider the mission of the University before they made their decision.

“It was a powerful demonstration and entirely student organized,” Susan Jacobsmeyer, a Ph.D student in Counseling and Family Therapy, said.  “This is an extremely strong showing that highlights the dedication to both the department and the occupation. There hasn’t been a lot of transparency in this process, and it’s hard to defend yourself when you are left in the dark.”

Assistant Professor of Counseling and Family Therapy Andrew Brimhall said it was good to see students fighting to hear their voices heard by the administration.

“I thought it was amazing to be able to see the students have a voice and take part in the process,” Brimhall said.

The student voice on the matter was made official in last week’s Student Government Association meeting with the passing of a resolution to urge the university to postpone considering the recommendation to close the departments until further evaluation had been done. Academic Vice President Patrick Grillot, who co-authored the resolution and attended the subcommittee meeting, stated that he felt the metrics used to evaluate the departments needed to be critiqued.

“The process worries me a little bit,” Grillot said. “I don’t mean the process by which the colleges were evaluated, but the criteria used. If this is going to be used for other programs and colleges, it needs to be critiqued.”

Grillot said he felt the metrics used were very quantitative and fiscally driven. While he acknowledged that these should be considered and are important factors, the metrics should also give consideration to things like departmental service and relevance to the University mission. According to Robert Cropf, chair of the department of Public Policy, the two departments will continue to operate as usual while the decision is being deliberated.

“We are continuing as normal until we hear anything else,” Cropf said.  “We’ll continue having classes and enrolling students as we have for the last 25 years.”

Grillot said that he and SGA are not planning anything specific in the upcoming months in response to this matter, but he will continue to work with the administration as needed.

“I’ll be working with Patankar to provide as much student feedback as possible,” Grillot said.