The University Senate narrowly approved a motion Wednesday to close the College of Nursing.

The 73-68 vote leaves the proposal in the hands of Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw, who will make a recommendation to the Syracuse University Board of Trustees for consideration in their final decision at a Dec. 8 meeting.

Many, including a large contingency of Nursing students and faculty, packed Maxwell Auditorium to participate in a debate that lasted more than an hour and would dominate the meeting. The large crowd left some senators without seats, prompting Shaw to tell them to find any place they could to stand.

“The fire marshall is not here,” Shaw said. “So what do you say we fill up the aisles.”

Several of those opposed to the closing, who easily outnumbered those favoring the proposal, pointed to discrepancies between several figures used by Vice Chancellor Deborah Freund’s report about the school and Nursing’s own records. Prior to the meeting, several nursing students distributed literature detailing their complaints with the report and their arguments for the preservation of the program.

Six Nursing faculty members who spoke out during the debate, including Dr. Katherine Anselmi, wrote the literature. Before the meeting, Anselmi said she was concerned many senators did not have complete information on all sides of the issue.

Some of the discrepancies included a claim by some nursing faculty members that since 1996, the program has met its target enrollment figures every year except 2001. David Smith, vice president of enrollment management, countered the argument and said some of the figures distributed were misleading and inflated.

“There has not been a single year since 1996 that the goals have been met,” Smith said.

He added that at the time they suspended registration for the coming summer and fall semesters, they had only six applications on record.

Nahmin Horwitz, who along with Smith was one of the few who spoke in favor of closing the program, said the decision was a tough but ultimately necessary one in university’s best interest. He commended Freund for her courage, noting that she could have made choices that would have garnered less criticism. He added that the money saved could go to programs with national stature that in turn could be used to educate more students.

But the elimination of programs to focus funds on SU’s more prominent interests is something Nursing Professor Bobbie Perdue thinks would be contradictory to improving the university as a whole.

“We don’t just support the programs that are outstanding now,” she said. “Ya’ll need us, we need you.”

After the meeting, Perdue expressed disappointed in her peers’ decision, and said that even if the aim of those who voted “yes” was to strengthen the university, they inadvertently made it weaker.

Many attending Nursing students held their faces before and after the vote and gasped when it became visibly close. One student senator said she the outcome physically affected her.

“I just felt a jolt jump through my body,” said Tosin Akande, a sophomore political science and public policy major.

Akande said she was confused that in such a close vote, testimonies made during the debate did not sway more senators. She added that although the vote may be over, she plans on protesting the decision sometime in the near future in hopes that there is still a chance the proposal will fail.

“This is not over, trust,” she said.

Published on November 13, 2002 at 12:00 pm