This is quite shocking in several respects: the Philosophy Department, as noted in the PGR, is one of a small handful of regional liberal arts colleges with a notably strong philosophy faculty, all its members being well-trained and productive members of the profession; in addition, the President of Illinois Wesleyan is a classicist, S. Georgia Nugent, who in a prior Presidency, at Kenyon College, was noted for her strong commitment to the liberal arts and especially the humanities.
All four tenured members of the philosophy department received unexpected notifications on June 12 that their program might be closed and that their tenured appointments could be terminated if no suitable alternative positions were found in the university. And it's not just Philosophy that is a target here, but also Anthopology, French, Italian, Religious Studies, Sociology, and the School of Music. (26 Illinois Wesleyan faculty received these notices: over 20% of Illinois Wesleyan's faculty!) If they go through with this, there is no sense in which the school will remain a "liberal arts" college.
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