EJ JACOBS
Life & Arts Editor
On Feb. 22, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and its Student Advisory Council (SAC) sent out an email to all students on track to receive a degree from that college.
This email stated that, “The CLAS dean’s office and the CLAS Student Advisory Council are hosting an open forum to discuss matters related to CLAS.”
The goals set out for the discussion were to make it so students had a place to go to feel safe and supported enough to openly talk about the issues they have with the university and CLAS, both as a unit and separately.
The email made it clear to students that the dean’s office expected that a majority of the questions and concerns of the student body would be directed toward the programs that are up for potential discontinuation. In regards to that, the email stated that, “We are likely to have no more information than what can be found here [referring to the Roadmap to Financial Sustainability Q&A]. That said, we understand the need for more dialogue on the matter.”
The email also states what the proposed agenda for the meeting looked like: “Items already on the agenda include the proposed program discontinuances, new programs in development and student resources in development.”
On Feb. 28, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Kelly Auditorium in the Science Center, Dr. Andy Karafa, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Todd Proffit, CLAS’s senior assistant dean, hosted and moderated the open forum.
Before discussing the proposed program discontinuations with the students in attendance, Karafa and Proffitt detailed new programs that the dean’s office is considering implementing, as well as new student resources that can be taken advantage of.
The new programs that CLAS wishes to see implemented are an M.S. in data science, a B.A. in healthcare management, a B.A. in health sciences, a B.S. in medicinal chemistry, a B.S. in robotics, and a social media minor.
Some of these programs have been confirmed to be added and have been voted upon by University Senate, while others are still in the planning stage.
Karafa took care to stress that these programs can all be taught by professors who are currently employed at the university, and they won’t incur any new costs.
He also unveiled plans for increased funding for summer research programs, as well as an idea for a directory of faculty/staff expertise and scholarship interests. If a student is looking for someone who’s knowledgeable about a certain subject, this would allow them to see which faculty and staff members can let them know more about it.
Karafa and Proffitt did talk about the proposed program cuts, but there wasn’t much they could say that hasn’t already been released by the administration through Fredonia’s Roadmap to Financial Sustainability Q&A section on the website.
Sophie Myers, a co-president of the student advocacy group Students for Fredonia (SFF), said that the forum made students at least feel like they were being heard, something that the administration hasn’t been able to do.
Dan Quagliana, a member of the CLAS Student Advisory Council that planned the forum, thought that, “It went really well! We got to show off some new plans that are in the works that I think will draw some new students to Fredonia. I really think some good news was needed right about now, and it’s always nice to hold a forum like this where students feel like they’re being listened to.”
CLAS and the advisory council are making plans for another open forum at some point in the future.
Dan Quagliana, who was interviewed for this article, is the News Editor of The Leader.