A mid-week show at 123 Pleasant Street drew hundreds in support of friends, colleagues, and programs.
Hundreds of people attended a Save Our U! event Wednesday evening at 123 Pleasant Street, a rally organized in support of WVU faculty, staff, and students in the face of budget-related cuts proposed by university administration.
Musical acts, many bringing activist flair, began at 6 p.m. and ran late into the evening, including Jamie Lester, Haley Slagle, Tommy Thompson III, Chris Haddox, Walt Harms, Kaylee Boyce, and Trevor Cooke.
The proposed cuts at WVU were detailed by university administration on August 11 and include 32 majors, 169 faculty, and more, including many arts, English, and math programs and all of the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. The measures are part of an ongoing Academic Transformation process and are aimed at addressing a $45 million budget deficit in the 2023–2024 school year that is projected to grow in coming years.
Decisions about the cuts are on a five-week timeline from the August 11 announcements. Nineteen academic units submitted intents to appeal the August 11 recommendations, and, according to the provost’s office Academic Transformation timeline, program review appeal committee hearings take place through September 5. Individual faculty can submit written comments to the Board of Governors or sign up to speak at the BOG meeting on September 14, and the Board will vote on the final recommendations on Friday, September 15.
Earlier Wednesday, the non-bargaining union West Virginia Campus Workers circulated a petition to university faculty seeking a special meeting of the University Assembly to vote on two resolutions: one for a vote of no confidence in President Gordon Gee and one to freeze the Academic Transformation process.
The Save Our U! rally was organized by Lisa DiBartolomeo, a teaching professor of Russian studies and Slavic and East European studies, and Morgantown musician Tommy Thompson III.
Two days earlier, on August 21, dual student walkouts on the downtown and Evansdale campuses organized by the West Virginia United Students’ Union aimed to stop program and faculty cults until an outside audit can be performed.
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