Rakan Alrashdan has spent the better part of a decade at the University of Akron, earning an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering before becoming a Ph.D. candidate in Polymer Engineering.
Now, with deep cuts proposed to the university’s premiere program, he’s organizing alongside other graduate students to push back on the retrenchment proposition.
“Everyone comes to Akron, seeking excellence, seeking professionalism, and with this cut happening, I don’t see it,” said Alrashdan, who estimates he has convinced at least five students from Jordan to apply to the university — he enjoys dual citizenship with the nation.
Graduate students have shown up repeatedly to protest the university’s proposed cuts in the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, including the re-opening of Lock 3 and Akron’s Christmas parade. They are circulating a petition they intend to share with Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohio Department of Education Chancellor Mike Duffey and U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes.
“Their sort of new retrenchment policy would halve the polymer science department, which is our most reputable department,” said Ethan Kahrl, a first-year polymer science graduate student.
“We’re third in the world, first in the nation. It’s a little ridiculous to make such drastic cuts to such a storied department.”
And at last week’s special Board of Trustees meeting, Alrashdan, 26, received five minutes to address the board. He also shared the students’ list of demands with Lewis Adkins, the board chair.
Their campaign may be working.
University of Akron President R.J. Nemer and Provost John Wiencek are scheduled to meet next week with Alrashdan and other students. The graduate students told Signal Akron they’re hopeful about the meeting with Nemer but still have doubts about how influential their protests will be.
Meanwhile, Nemer appears to be recognizing some of their demands.
In a letter he read Wednesday at a Board of Trustees meeting, Nemer said the university is “committed to the importance of the polymer science brand, the importance of research, and the valuable degree programs” offered in the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering.
This language is a direct reflection of the students’ demands, the first of which is “that the School of Polymer Sciences and Polymer Engineering at the University of Akron is retained as a separate institution and the brand name of the polymer programs is preserved.”
University spokeswoman Cristine Boyd said Nemer’s letter was shared as “a clarification to all audiences that have expressed support for our School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering.”
“While it’s critical that we consider efficiencies within the program, we plan to do so in a way that preserves and continues its important legacy,” Boyd said. “We have received feedback and ideas from a number of students, faculty, alumni and industry partners.”
Opposition to retrenchment began shortly after news broke
Student-led opposition to the proposed cuts and department mergers at the University of Akron started shortly after news about the administration’s retrenchment and reorganization plans became public.
“The main reason we go out and protest and we do all this is to put pressure on the university, let people know what’s happening, especially parents with kids who are pursuing a degree at the University of Akron,” Alrashdan said.
The university is working through retrenchment with the faculty union, which is a contractual process the university can put in motion because of financial exigency, significant enrollment reductions over five or more academic semesters, or other reasons, according to the union contract.
By going through the retrenchment process and cutting faculty across departments, the university hopes to move closer to balancing its budget. According to a budget document from June’s Board of Trustees meeting, the university is expected to end fiscal year 2024 with a net loss of about $20 million and a deficit of $27 million.
In addition to working with the union on retrenchment, the administration is seeking voluntary separations for faculty members, a process that started weeks ago and will continue through the end of December. If enough faculty leave voluntarily, Nemer said that would “most likely” keep the university from eliminating faculty through non-voluntary means in the targeted departments.
Some of the faculty cuts the administration is proposing are:
- Five in art
- Two in history
- Six in anthropology
- Five in physics
- Three in electrical and computer engineering
- An unknown number in chemistry
The administration is also proposing merging the Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering Department; the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering; and the Chemistry Department.
The merger could result in three faculty positions cut from Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering and 10 in Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. In total, the university has proposed cutting more than 30 faculty positions across eight university departments.
The cuts would totally close the anthropology and physics departments.
Graduate students organizing against cuts, merger of Polymer Science with other programs
The merger of the polymer programs, corrosion engineering programs and chemistry department are at the heart of graduate students’ concerns.
Kahrl, who has an undergraduate degree from the College of Wooster and works in the field of chemical engineering, said he received positive recommendations about the School of Polymer Sciences and Polymer Engineering and decided to pursue a master’s degree there because of that.
“To halve the amount of staff here, the amount of professors here, would limit the remaining professors’ ability to conduct research and conduct the research that has [put] Akron on the map,” Kahrl said.
By losing polymer faculty, many of the graduate students protesting the cuts said it would impact the ability of professors and students to continue world-class research that has led to numerous grants and patents.
“The polymer faculty makes up 4% of the full-time faculty at the university,” Alrashdan said when addressing the Board of Trustees’ members. “It has 54% of the University of Akron’s patents. So it’s very crucial that you re-evaluate these cuts and basically save what keeps Akron on the map.”
Among the list of demands on the students’ petition are:
- The retention of the School of Polymer Sciences and Polymer Engineering as a separate department and “brand name.”
- That polymer science faculty be evaluated based on their research activities rather than their teaching loads.
- That the (relatively new) undergraduate polymer science program be allowed to grow for five years before being shut down.
- That the administration makes clear its long-term plans for the university and its research efforts.
- That no polymer science faculty members be cut until the last student from their group has successfully defended their graduate theses and doctoral dissertations and graduated.
“A petition to the president isn’t going to do it,” Alrashdan said. “A petition to the provost isn’t going to do it. [We] need to go above and beyond.”
Emails show university forming Joint Retrenchment Committee
A Joint Retrenchment Committee has been created, according to an email from Nemer and Toni Bisconti, the faculty union president, with three university administrators and three union members serving.
The email also announced the administration will continue taking suggestions until Jan. 13 for alternative revenue reductions that could lower the number of potential faculty cuts. Bisconti and Nemer will both sit in on Joint Retrenchment Committee meetings as requested, according to the email.
“As president of the University, I felt it was important for me to be part of the conversation, rather than the recipient of a recommendation at the conclusion of the work,” Nemer said in the email.
In Akron, student success in doubt if merger, cuts go through
After graduation, Alrashdan plans to return to Jordan — he has dual citizenship — and work as a polymer consultant in addition to other business pursuits.
“In the future, I know the polymer program will allow me to succeed even more while remaining in the business industry,” Alrashdan said.
With the proposed changes to the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, Alrashdan said he’s unsure if he’ll continue to assist with the university’s recruitment of international students. After all, he added, the future of the program, and its solid reputation, are in jeopardy if the proposed changes — cutting about half of the faculty in the school — come to fruition.
“The university is losing its reputation,” Alrashdan said, “especially with something like this.”
