Faculty were emailed a referendum Monday asking them to vote on whether or not they have confidence in the process and outcomes of vitalization project Workgroup no.7.

The Faculty Senate sent out the referendum, which asks faculty to answer yes or no the statement, “I have confidence in the process employed by Vitalization Workgroup no. 7 in the program review mandated by the President.”

The Workgroup, which looked at academic programs during the vitalization project, recommended, among other things, the elimination or reorganization of seven programs.

Of these, four are now being considered for deletion. These four are philosophy, adult and community education, Africana studies and career and technical development.

The referendum details several concerns the Faculty Senate had with the Workgroup’s recommendations.

One of these was with the inclusion of profit and loss analysis in assessing the programs.

While Eastern President David Glassman said profit and loss data would only be one of the factors considered, the Faculty Senate wrote that the time constraint the Workgroup was under did not allow for a “systematic review of the holistic performance of each program.”

The Faculty Senate said its colleagues in Workgroup no. 7 worked diligently to carry out the charges given to them, but another concern addressed in the letter was that the process Workgroup no. 7 went through when carrying out these charges detracted from the Faculty Senate’s confidence in its recommendations.

“Even though the meetings were open to the public, observers merely witnessed the placing of note cards that were already filled out prior to the meeting and were not given insight to the rationale of the comments or decisions,” the letter reads.

The deadline to vote on the referendum is noon on Monday, Feb. 20.

The News staff can be reached at 581-2812 or dennewsdesk@gmail.com.