Editor’s Note: This story has been updated for accuracy.
At their March 17 meeting, the Student Senate debated for more than an hour over a resolution to oppose the elimination of the Physics Department after hearing an announcement from Provost Denise Cobb on the subject.
Administration is proposing cutting the Physics Department due to a number of reasons, chiefly profitability and low enrollment.
Head Justice Brenden Auerbach asked Cobb about the publicity of the information, specifically if students would be given access to the proposal. Cobb said she had shared it with the Faculty Senate and the University Planning and Budget Council, but not the Staff Senate.
“I didn’t name the proposed program at Faculty Senate last time because I wanted to make sure all the faculty in the program had time to receive the proposal and review the proposal, and I felt like, at that moment, it was theirs to share,” Cobb said. “I would like for you to be mindful — it’s sensitive.”
Senator Abdulsalam Odofin-Kamorudeen, a sophomore physics major, asked Cobb if any efforts had been made to attract grant money to the program.
“When we hire a tenure-line faculty member, we’re expecting them to be both teachers and scholars, and in STEM disciplines, there is a strong norm and expectation for seeking external funds,” Cobb said. “I would need the department to provide that as part of its feedback and provide context for that request.”
At the open forum on the department’s elimination held earlier that day, former Chair of the Physics Department Jack Glassman said that he had submitted requests for more faculty four years in a row. He also said no tenure-track faculty had been hired for the Physics Department since 2012, and three had left in the same amount of time.
When presenting the resolution to oppose the department’s elimination, written by Organization Relations Officer Ben Cole, Odofin-Kamorudeen expressed concerns with the presentation of the data in the proposal.
“The data used to compare graduation rates is pre-COVID numbers versus post-COVID numbers. Physics is a very challenging curriculum, so a lot of students choose to complete physics in five years,” Odofin-Kamorudeen said. “Nationally, there has been a declining enrollment in physics — it is not unique to SIUE. That shouldn’t be a reason for wanting to shut down the department.”
A number of senators discussed tabling the resolution to allow time for research to be done. Cole, also a sophomore physics major, said a decision needed to be made sooner than later, citing a six-week deadline given by the proposal before feedback would no longer be considered.
Cole said the savings the university is expecting do not justify cutting a whole department. According to Cole, the university believes it would save $329,000 on physics faculty versus $164 million spent in salaries for all university employees. He also said no more physics research would be done after the elimination.
“When we are moving the faculty over to the chemistry department, they are gonna be instructors,” Cole said. “Instructors do not do any research. This means that all research that is in physics is going to be cut from SIUE.”
Student President Barrett Larkin said he believed the sponsors of the bill were “ambushed” by Cole last-minute and denounced the action as a “political maneuver.”
“We’re bottom of the barrel with how many physics majors we have. It’s only 0.2 percent of the salary, [and] physics majors are only 0.1 percent of our majors. Physics majors should know what’s optimal, and that’s suboptimal,” Larkin said. “I challenge Ben [Cole] or Abdulsalam [Odofin-Kamorudeen] to name a program they’d have cut instead. Programs are going to be cut, [and] you guys are obviously biased. This kind of ambush as a political maneuver makes me not want to support physics.”
Larkin then said that, after the Moon landing and atomic bomb, physics is “not relevant anymore.” This prompted backlash from the Senate, and Student Vice President Lucia Knapp had to call for order. Odofin-Kamorudeen defended the science, saying modern technology would not exist without it. Cole defended the department itself, saying the department was ambushed by administration.
“The people who are doing this prioritization program are not doing their part in advertising what they’re doing,” Cole said. “Physics has 1 percent of the total people who graduate from CAS. 20 other majors fall below that.”
Officer Zach Entwistle asked the senators why SIUE should be spending money on a program that is losing the school money, saying the 24 undergraduate physics students currently enrolled are costing the university more money than they paid in tuition.
“If we look at this like a business — because SIUE is a business — we’re all going to end up degreeless and jobless,” Entwistle said. “Putting it as it is, we are losing money on physics. As much as it pains me to say this, because I do think physics is an integral part of science education, those 24 physics majors are just gonna have to go to another school.”
Senator Shihab Alseikh, an engineering major, said the argument was broader than just physics students.
“As an engineer, my degree and the reputation of my degree will be affected by this decision. Imagine an engineer graduating from an institution without a department of physics,” Alseikh said. “[If I were] an employer who employs engineering students, I wouldn’t do it if I knew the college doesn’t have a department of physics. How do I know the courses the students are taking are good physics courses?”
Senator David Ferrier asked Larkin, who is a member of the committee that will review the proposal after the feedback period, if he would advocate for the department if Student Government passed the resolution.
“I will do my best to consider the facts of all the students, so that’s why I’m saying we shouldn’t vote on this,” Larkin said. “If I say I’m gonna go do whatever Student Government does, that means I’m representing whatever majors we have here.”
This comment caused backlash as well, with one senator saying, “So, no,” in response to Larkin. Knapp called for order again.
“The vote will definitely be a consideration,” Larkin said after the call for order. “I’ll say yes, but it will not be the only consideration. It can’t be.”
After more than an hour of debate, Senators Mitch Baldwin and Stacia Tillison urged the Senate to vote. The resolution passed with 12 votes in favor, three against and two abstentions. The abstentions were Baldwin and Senator Aseanti Boone. Loftus and Senators Ray Ehrenhaft and Garrett Ord voted against the resolution.
The Senate also voted to approve the Election Commission, composed of former Election Commissioner Luke Head, Senator Nina Harris and Associate Justices Juan Rosario-Frias and Landon Winkelman.
Additionally, the Senate approved $2,800 for the National Society of Black Engineers’ Met Gala to celebrate its 50-year anniversary. A travel request by Alpha Xi Delta and an organization name change by Metro Young Adult Ministry were also approved.
Four senators were absent without excuses: Senators Alexis Allen, Jasiah Andrews, Heaven Watkins and Nick Yuhas. Andrews and Watkins were both absent without excuses at the last meeting, and both have missed four meetings each without excuses.
Additionally, Graduate Senators Iyanuoluwa Fatunmbi and Victoria Magbagbeola had resigned as of the Feb. 24 meeting. Senator Bruce Wilkerson, who attended his first Senate meeting on Feb. 24, is also in the process of resigning.
The Senate Candidate Town Hall will be held from 12-1 p.m. Thursday, March 20, in SSC 0200 in preparation for the election.
The next Student Senate meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, March 31, in the Mississippi/Illinois Room of the MUC.
