If you haven’t seen the news, the administrators and CSU Trustees of Sonoma State University are trying to eliminate the Philosophy Department. On January 22, 2025 Sonoma State University sent an email to the campus community announcing the elimination of six departments, including Philosophy, and sent lay off notices to 46 faculty, including the five tenured faculty and the lecturers in the Philosophy department. This elimination and the layoffs are part of a massive budget cut to address SSU’s $20+ million budget deficit as a function of falling enrollment over the past 6-7 years. The Philosophy Department is, however, a net earner for the university!  So, it is beyond incomprehensible why the department is being destroyed, all faculty are being terminated, and philosophy majors and minors are being abandoned and stranded.

If this decision is approved, students will no longer be able to study philosophy at Sonoma State University.  Such a permanent decision not only impacts all current students and faculty in the department, but will have lasting effects on the campus, the community, and on higher education in general. Please join us in demanding Sonoma State and the CSU Trustees reverse this unjust and irrational decision.

We are asking for full transparency from SSU/CSU, including a detailed, step-by-step explanation of the rationale behind their decision. Our goal is a full restoration of the Philosophy Department. We hope that you'll join us.

Here is why you should:

• Budgetary concerns are the main motivation for cutting programs. Understandably, given the massive deficit, the University needs to cut significant expenses. However, Philosophy is a net earner. We are regularly at nearly full capacity in our classes, and we are regularly at or above SFR targets. There is no budgetary rationale for closing this program.
  
  
• Preparing future employees is a stated goal of this reorientation of the University: to “align with the CSU’s career-focused mission of producing graduates ready to contribute to California’s economy, culture, and schools.”  If Philosophy is eliminated, then SSU will also be eliminating its Pre-Law program.  Over the last decade or so, we have sent dozens of our Pre-Law majors to law school, many of whom are now coming back as lawyers in Sonoma County and elsewhere in the Bay Area.  Moreover, Philosophy majors are consistently placed with Math, Physics, and Economics (two other majors slated for closure) in the top four majors for LSAT scores.  Beyond law school, story after story in respectable reporting outlets confirms that business leaders want to hire Philosophy and other liberal arts majors who excel in critical thinking, communication, and problem solving, so that they can adapt to any job the employer wants.  This directly correlates with the next point:
  
  
• Future student employment needs is also a stated goal of the proposed redistribution of resources.  Philosophy is an excellent career choice for students.  It is the highest paying major outside the STEM fields for mid-career earnings.  SSU should provide its students with the opportunity to achieve the highest reaches of earnings success.
  
  
• Offering vital programs is another concern in the budget process.  The SSU Philosophy major is a singular program in the entire CSU, and really in the entire country, by being the only one to focus its undergraduate major on ethics, values, and legal and political philosophy.  All majors choose a concentration in Pre-Law, Science and Technology Ethics, Social Justice, or The Good Life.  Don’t cut such a distinctive program!