Emory University President Jim Wagner met with a handful of students Friday afternoon to discuss their frustrations over the college phasing out some academic programs.
The meeting lasted just over an hour, and talks broke down almost immediately, Channel 2 Action News reported. Emory College Dean Robin Forman also attended. Students are planning to increase their protests and continue to fight the cuts.
“Although we made some progress in reviewing the process that led to these decisions, I am disappointed by the overall tenor of the meeting,” said Wagner, according to a news release issued by Emory. “The students did not take the opportunity for real dialogue with Dean Forman, but rather presented the same demands.”
One member of the delegation told the Emory Wheel, a campus publication, the talks with Wagner and Forman were “acrimonious.”
“I am extremely disappointed to report that negotiations were highly acrimonious with no movement forward on any substantive issues,” graduate student Pat Blanchfield told the Wheel. “In fact, President Wagner and Dean Forman have not only refused to meet with us in the future but have refused to consider any possible circumstance under which such a meeting would be necessary or productive.”
During the meeting, Wagner and Forman told the students that the changes in academic programs announced in September would not be reversed, according to the news release.
The two groups first met for more than three hours Tuesday when more than 150 students occupied an administration building to protest the changes to the Emory College of Arts and Sciences.
Tuesday’s protest was just the latest response to what has been three months of campus outrage since Forman announced several programs would be closed, including journalism, physical education and visual arts. Some students and faculty have questioned the cuts, saying the decision was made without enough campus input.
The changes were not prompted by finances, Forman has said adding that the university is working to enhance core strengths and expand into developing academic areas. The cuts will be implemented over the next four years.
During Friday’s meeting, Forman was expected to review how the university decided to make the changes, according to a news release from Emory.
The students, however, thought they had agreed with administrators on the agenda, which their group had set, Channel 2 reported. Students said the agenda changed before the meeting.
The students plan to meet Tuesday to plan their next move.
About 40 people were gathered outside of Candler Library while the meeting was taking place. Afterwards, student organizers described the meeting as “acrimonious and fruitless,” according to the Emory release.
“We all share a concern for the future of the college and of the university. Although we disagree regarding the decisions that have been made to date, we look forward to finding ways to more actively engage faculty and students in the process,” Wagner said, according to the release. Wagner cited a student advisory committee that the dean has asked the College Council to appoint as a way to increase input in the future.
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