On Wednesday January 18th, 2023, the President of Utica University, Laura Casamento, and the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Robert Brvenik recommended the elimination of 15 majors, including Philosophy, and also demanded that 8 other programs needed to make significant changes or face elimination.

The process for cutting programs began back in September 2023 when the Board of Trustees of the University charged the University with conducting an Academic Portfolio Review, due to what they called "an unsustainable faculty-to-student ratio", which asked for recommendations for program deletion. Whilst this was claimed to be for the purpose of cutting costs, no information has been given on how any of the proposed cuts will save the University any money.

The position of the Utica University faculty union, AAUP-Utica, is that the Academic Portfolio Review violates the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the University and AAUP-Utica. AAUP-Utica filed a formal grievance in regard to this on January 10th, which is ongoing. Despite the ongoing grievance, the University went ahead with its announcement of the proposed cuts, with the Board of Trustees due to take action on the recommendations on February 17th.

Utica University (which was 'Utica College' until 2022) is a small private institution in upstate New York. It serves a primarily local population, many of whom are first-generation college students. Utica substantially lowered its tuition fees in 2016 in an effort to make a small college higher education experience more accessible. We believe that the proposed cuts violate the mission of the University, by removing key aspects of a higher education experience from students who deserve better.

Our philosophy department is myself (Douglas Edwards), Christopher Riddle, Leonore Fleming, and John Lawless. We are sensitive to the needs of our students, and have developed dynamic courses and programs which demonstrate the advantages that a philosophical education can have, particularly to those who have not encountered it before. We are dedicated and award-winning teachers and researchers who also do significant service work for the institution. Far from a shrinking department, over the course of the last 11 years our program has developed from 3 students to an average of 50-70 minors and majors, and from 1 to 4 tenured or tenure-track faculty, largely due to the tireless work of our Chair, Chris Riddle, who began the revitalization of the philosophy program when he arrived in Utica in 2012.

We the undersigned oppose the elimination of the Philosophy Major, and request that the University continue offering this program.