Disappearing Departments
Kean University department chairs have spent a year on the endangered species list, and now they appear headed for all-but-certain extinction. A rough plan to eliminate chairs took shape last May amid heavy protest, and administrators now have a draft proposal they say could be carried out as early as July. The plan, which would replace departments with schools headed by presidentially-appointed “executive directors,” has been met with renewed furor from faculty, who view it as a power grab that leaves the future of many disciplines uncertain. Jack Stripling, Inside Higher Ed, May 7, 2010