The UW Senate voted on Monday to reorganize the faculty of arts. The faculty will move from 17 departments and schools to six schools.

The reorganization has been a multi-year process, becoming a higher priority due to the university facing a $75 million budget deficit for the operating year of 2024-2025 and a hiring freeze beginning November of last year. Though arts dean Alexie Tcheuyap clarified that the process began before current financial struggles, he said, “This restructuring will help smaller departments deal with the attrition caused by the hiring freeze.”

The formal report on the restructuring cites a “very challenging political and fiscal climate” as one reason for the decision, adding that “doing nothing is not an option.” The reorganization aims to keep programs viable with fewer faculty and staff by pooling resources, simplifying administration, and enabling more flexible teaching assignments.

The School of Accounting and Finance and the Stratford School of Interaction Design & Business will remain unchanged.

The other 13 departments will be merged into two schools:

• The school of critical and creative humanities, comprised of communication arts, English, fine arts, French studies, Germanic & Slavic studies, and Spanish & Latin American studies
• The school of social, political and historical research, comprised of anthropology, classical studies, history, philosophy, political science, religious studies, and sociology and legal studies).

Two departments will be rebranded:

• The department of economics will be known as the school of economics.
• The department of psychology will be known as  the school of psychology.

Some faculty members have raised concerns over the effects of this transition, fearing diluted voices, reduced program representation, and the possibility that restructuring could make job cuts easier. The university says the model does not eliminate programs and does not cut staff pay, though workforce reductions through attrition are expected university wide.

Despite the concerns, the Arts Faculty Council strongly voted in favour of the restructuring on September 9: 208 in favour, 39 against, and 14 abstentions.

It now heads to the Board of Governors for final approval on October 28, 2025. If approved it would come into effect on July 1, 2026. The rest of the 2025-26 academic year would serve as a transition period, with the faculty working to determine the exact details of the school committees, advising teams, and other administrative changes.