Vote on engineering resources tallied

Thirty-four percent of faculty found it "acceptable" to phase out the College's civil engineering program, while 58 percent found it "unacceptable" to do so in a recent vote on the resource needs in engineering.

A total of 205 faculty voted; 18 (9 percent) abstained.

Among other options on the ballot, 23 percent found acceptable (68 percent unacceptable) an option that would reduce the size of faculty salary increases (Option 2); 40 percent (51 percent unacceptable) a proposal to increase the number of students by 1.4 percent (Option 3); 56 percent (36 percent unacceptable) a smaller increase of students combined with early retirement (Option 4); 33 percent (58 percent unacceptable) a combination of smaller cuts among various programs, early retirements and lab fees (Option 5); and 57 percent (35 percent unacceptable) reducing the number of CE faculty and assessing a lab fee (Option 6).

On a breakdown of preference, 37 percent indicated that Option 6 was their first choice; 23 percent listed Option 1; 18 percent, Option 4; 6 percent, Option 3; 4 percent, Option 5; and 2 percent, Option 2.

The College's Board of Trustees is to consider the issue at its meeting on Friday.