You’re the leader of a public university that has been slammed with state budget cuts, and you’ve decided the only way forward is to eliminate some academic offerings. Now comes a difficult question: Which programs stay and which go?
It’s an increasingly common debate, especially at cash-strapped public regional institutions, where troubles caused by shrinking budgets are often compounded by shrinking enrollments.
Recently the national spotlight has shone on the University of Southern Maine, where a $16-million budget shortfall led to the elimination of five degree programs and the loss of 85 faculty positions, through layoffs, resignations, and retirements. (Because of an unexpectedly high number of retirements, the university may refill some of those slots.) That set of cuts sparked faculty and student protests.
Last year the University of New Orleans ended six degree programs, eliminated the geography department, and cut 22 positions, 18 of which were faculty members. Delta State University, in Cleveland, Miss., cut five undergraduate-degree programs and eliminated seven faculty positions.
And when Western Carolina University completed a comprehensive review of its academic programs, in May 2013, 13 programs were recommended for elimination. Ten of those programs ended up being discontinued.
The recommendations came from a committee, led by a faculty member and the provost, and made up mostly of faculty members. (Three students also served.) That group submitted recommendations to the chancellor, David O. Belcher, who made the final decision.
For administrators like Mr. Belcher, decisions on program cuts are a balancing act between brass-tacks financial concerns and broader questions about the university’s academic mission. Here’s a look at which factors tend to carry the most weight.
Criteria for Cuts
At Southern Maine, said Christopher G. Quint, a spokesman, administrators weighed several factors in determining what to cut: What does it cost to support the program? Is it relevant to the community? Could the curriculum overlap with other degree programs?
Those are among the criteria—like a program’s cost, enrollment, and relevance to the work force—that tend to rise to the top of the pile elsewhere, too.
“Students vote with their feet,” said William N. LaForge, president of Delta State. “We simply don’t have the demand for some of our academic programs that we wish we had.”
But demand doesn’t always win out. Delta State’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, Charles McAdams, said the university also considered whether degree programs with low enrollments were essential to the university’s mission or offered a unique opportunity for growth. Here are some other factors that can keep endangered programs alive—or at least earn them further consideration.
A plan for change: At New Orleans, Peter J. Fos, the president, initially recommended discontinuing a master’s program in Romance languages, but he has since delayed the closure. The program recently opened an online component that promised to drive up enrollment numbers, he said, and he wanted to give it time to bear fruit.
But the leash is not long. Mr. Fos said he would monitor the program’s enrollment figures in 2015. The program will need to show sufficient enrollment growth for him to recommend keeping it in the long term.
Regional needs: Mr. Fos did not accept a recommendation to cut a bachelor’s program in elementary education that produces teachers with dual certification in general and special education. The curriculum, he said, aligned with the Louisiana school system’s need.
“As a regional university, we have a responsibility to provide workers for every industry,” he said.
But there’s a limit, he said. “I didn’t feel the same responsibility to produce prepared people in political science.”
Regional demographics: When Western Carolina’s committee recommended what to cut, Mr. Belcher vetoed a recommendation to end two undergraduate Spanish programs.
“The Latino population in the area is exploding,” he said, and western North Carolina needs people who can work with Spanish speakers.
Graduates’ success: Mr. Belcher also rejected the committee’s recommendation to discontinue a bachelor’s program in motion-picture and television production.
That was a new program, he said, and it was still growing. What’s more, its graduates were being accepted into top graduate programs or were finding jobs in degree-related fields.
The committee said it was an expensive program, but, Mr. Belcher pointed out, “if we’re going to make cost a reason to cut a program, we’d have cut a lot of other programs too.”
Uniqueness: Mr. Belcher, a musician by training, did ultimately agree to discontinue a master’s program in music. One of the reasons: He checked with other state universities and found that some offered similar programs.
History: Mr. Belcher also cut five master’s teaching programs, even though Western Carolina began as a teaching institution. He also considered the region’s need for qualified teachers.
“We have that history here, and given that we are located in the extreme western part of the state, a more rural environment, it was something that I considered and thought about tremendously,” he said. “Even if there’s a need, if we don’t have lots of students in the programs, we’re not being effective at meeting the need.”
When Backlash Begins
Ultimately, Mr. LaForge said, no matter how the process is conducted, not everyone will be happy.
At Delta State, some faculty members and students staged a funeral for the closed programs. At the University of New Orleans, faculty members voted no confidence in Mr. Fos after he approved the program closures and faculty-position eliminations.
At Western Carolina, Mr. Belcher allowed program leaders to make a final appeal directly to him.
“Were there people who were unhappy? Absolutely,” he said. “But I will tell you that on the day that I released my final decision, I had program leaders for five or six of the programs that were discontinued email me and say, ‘I’m disappointed in the results, but I feel the process was fair, and that I was heard.’”
N. Leroy Kauffman, an associate professor of accounting who is now the faculty-senate chairman at Western Carolina, said most faculty members on the campus thought the process was open and there were no surprises.
After cutbacks, what’s next? Administrators at some universities, including Delta State, say they intend to consider reversing the cuts in more financially healthy times.
But for others, like Mr. Belcher, the cutbacks were a lasting way to sharpen the university’s mission. “It’s safe to say that Western Carolina needed to focus,” he said. “We were trying to do more, in my opinion, than we could do—not just adequately, but competently.”
The metrics used in Western Carolina’s comprehensive review, he said, have since been incorporated into the university’s continuing academic-review process.
Mr. Fos said New Orleans’s decision to review and cut programs had been driven by financial pressure, but he now thinks that process should happen every five or 10 years.
Every forward-thinking university “should look at the programs they’re offering,” he said, “and see if the programs are still relevant, if they’re preparing students for careers, and whether they’re meeting needs of the constituencies.”
