More information is here - https://www.valpo.edu/uplift-valpo/thrive-2/operational-sustainability/
Some elements in today's announcement did catch me and others by surprise. The proposal includes the elimination of tenure (even for those of us who have been tenured for decades [not sure they can do this, but that's in the proposal]), the establishment of one-year rolling contracts for all affected faculty (which means that any one of us could be told mid-year that our contract won't be renewed for next year), and the requirement (at least for me) to teach an additional course per semester at no additional pay. (I have been teaching a 3-3 load, and occasionally a 3-2 load, since I joined the faculty in 2004. The proposal requires a 4-4 teaching load for all affected faculty.)
It is not at all certain that the current theology requirement (two required 3-hr courses in the gen ed curriculum) will continue. The basic 200-level "Christian Tradition" course will likely continue, at least for a while, but the upper-division theo courses will likely go away. If that would happen, the dept would eventually disappear, since no prospective faculty member will want to come to an institution where they can't teach in their area of expertise and research. As theo faculty retire (or if their contracts are not renewed), those spots won't be filled. Who would want to join a dept if the university can only offer new faculty a one-year rolling contract, no tenure, no program per se, no support for research, just "service teaching" in the gen ed curriculum at a 4-4 level?
