PSU President Ann Cudd Gives a Revealing Interview on OPB’s Think Out Loud

Pres. Cudd in a recent candid interview with the PSU Vanguard

PSU President Ann Cudd sat for an interview with OPB’s Think Out Loud podcast recently, to discuss her administration’s program of extreme budget cuts across the university. In addition to repeating boilerplate explanations for the cuts, Cudd offered opinions and revealed gaps in knowledge that paint a concerning picture of her vision for PSU’s future. When asked by host Dave Miller how larger class sizes caused by cutting instructional faculty would affect students’ learning experience, Cudd insisted students would be better off in larger classes of upwards of 30 students. She explained her reasoning as follows:

“Because nobody likes to be in a class that has only about four or five other students, because if you don’t show up you really are noticed, for one thing. But the other thing is that it’s all on you and a couple of others to carry on the discussion and actually, you know, work together. So it’s a better classroom experience when there are more students than that.”

Miller expressed disbelief at the notion that a university president would promote larger class sizes as beneficial for learning, and followed up by asking if the majority of more than 90 NTTF who received layoff notices had been identified as teaching the kind of smaller or redundant class sessions PSU says they aim to trim. But Cudd was either unable or unwilling to answer. Instead, she deflected the question and instead focused on contract requirements for layoff notification. It is also notable that the interview failed to address the role of adjuncts (who teach around a third of all classes offered at PSU) in the administration and board’s budget plans, and made no mention of the wave of non-renewal notices received by many adjuncts this summer.

Listen to the full interview here.

What’s the takeaway from an interview like this? It seems clear that Pres. Cudd and the rest of PSU’s leadership are making enormously consequential decisions about the future of the institution without a well-reasoned strategy beyond panicked short term cost-cutting. This isn’t the first time Pres. Cudd has appeared to be unprepared in the face of questions from faculty and students. The PSU Vanguard shared this video of PSU-AAUP President Emily Ford confronting Cudd recently over faculty layoffs. While Cudd failed to offer substantive answers to any of Pres. Ford’s questions, her dismissive attitude spoke volumes.

Did you listen to the interview on OPB or see the Vanguard’s video on social media? What do you think about Pres. Cudd’s response? Email to share your thoughts at psufa.martha@gmail.com