Fresno university reinstates laid-off professor following student protests
CORRECTION: The story has been updated with a statement from the university.
Philosophy isn’t dead — at least not for the foreseeable future at Fresno Pacific University.
Students feared it was soon-to-be after the layoff of the college’s last full-time faculty professor of philosophy, Nathan Carson, last fall.
But the university reversed course in an announcement Jan. 13, moving to reinstate Carson following a student-led protest of his layoff and the likely elimination of the philosophy and Sierra Summer wilderness programs, both of which Carson ran.
“I’ve been around higher ed enough to know that these things don’t happen. They just don’t,” Carson said of his reinstatement in an interview with The Bee’s Education Lab on Tuesday.
“The fact that this actually succeeded is astonishing, and I think speaks volumes of our community, but also of this president,” he added, referring to Fresno Pacific President André Stephens.
The university first announced it was planning to cut 4% of full-time staff in response to a projected multi-million dollar deficit in October, due in part to declining enrollment.
That resulted in cuts of at least five faculty members, some of whom — including Carson — were tenured.
“Protecting tenure doesn’t seem to be a priority, and that’s a big deal,” Carson said. “It affects whether you can attract new faculty and retain them. It affects people’s whole career trajectories.”
University response
In an emailed statement shared by Fresno Pacific spokesperson Wayne Steffen Wednesday, the university provided its criteria for selecting which positions to eliminate, including data on trends in education and job growth, breakdowns of FPU’s enrollment in each program, the costs of their different programs, and the need for general education faculty, among other factors.
Carson told the Ed Lab he appealed the decision to lay him off in December.
At the Jan. 11 protest, two days before a decision on Carson’s appeal was due back, a group of the professor’s current and former students donned togas and set up tents, emblematic of both of Carson’s programs, outside of McDonald Hall on Fresno Pacific’s campus.
“From where I sit,” said Leondre McBride, an alum of both the philosophy and wilderness programs who organized the demonstration, “(the protest) was the majority reason for the decision.”
“I think that we sent a clear, strong message to the university,” he added, “that people care about these programs and that they’re necessary.”
Speaking about the protest, Carson said it was difficult not to tear up at the mention.
“It was very humbling,” he said, “and kind of gave me a new sense of why this matters, why I’m doing what I’m doing.”
He added that in his conversation with Fresno Pacific administrators last week, it was determined that philosophy would become a general education requirement, which it wasn’t prior to Carson’s layoff.
Despite last week’s good news, the hot water that Fresno Pacific remains in financially is leaving some feeling wary of the future.
“There definitely is a possibility of more (layoffs) coming,” Carson said, while adding that he remains hopeful for the future and is working to secure donations for the philosophy program.
Hopeful signs
President Stephens outlined some encouraging signs in Wednesday’s statement, including a slowing decline in enrollment and an increase in donations to the school.
“We will continue to work strategically with internal and external partners,” he said, “to develop and implement a financially viable roadmap for our future.”
McBride also shared in this cautious optimism about the future of the university.
“I’m hoping that the administrators (at Fresno Pacific) can figure out some other ways (to save money) that don’t reduce the quality of education,” McBride said, “as well as keeping it open, so other students can come learn.”
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
This story was originally published January 17, 2023 at 5:49 PM.
