Education
Wisconsin University Looks To Abolish Liberal Arts Majors
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The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point proposed eliminating “programs with lower enrollment” to make room for degrees with “clear career pathways,” according to a Tuesday report.
If the University of Wisconsin system’s board of regents and chancellor approve the plan, UW Stevens Point would nix English, history, philosophy, and 10 other majors, reported The Hill. The school would funnel the funding for these majors into more practical ones like graphic design, management, and chemical engineering.
UW Stevens Point suggested implementing the changes to combat its $4.5 million deficit due to lower enrollment, according to The Washington Post.
“To fund this future investment, resources would be shifted from programs with lower enrollment, primarily in the traditional humanities and social sciences,” UW Stevens Point said. “Although some majors are proposed to be eliminated, courses would continue to be taught in these fields, and minors or certificates will be offered.”
The school said that the cuts may result in tenured professors getting laid off and expects to begin making in or after June 2020.
“If we accept the need for change, and we confront and solve the financial issues currently facing the institution, we can create a new identity for the regional public university,” UW Stevens Point provost and vice chancellor Greg Summers said in the school’s press release. “UW Stevens Point can move forward with fiscal stability, new opportunities to build programs and grow enrollment, and renewed capacity to improve our service to the students and communities of central and northern Wisconsin, which are complex, diverse and ever changing.”
Students and faculty are organizing a sit-in to protest the proposal.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to UW Stevens Point, as well as the University of Wisconsin system for comment but received none in time for press.
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