U. Wisconsin at Stevens Point Dropping Liberal Arts Majors
“The school said that the cuts may result in tenured professors getting laid off”
Students and faculty are not happy about this but the school wants to turn its focus to concentrations with better job prospects. It’s a survival tactic.
The Daily Caller reports:
Wisconsin University Looks To Abolish Liberal Arts Majors
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.”
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Comments
Are they dropping all ethnic studies?
Ethnic studies lead to degrees with “clear career pathways.” Any and all gov’t and education positions, Human Resources, the list is endless!
Yeah, but they’re keeping the alcohol consumption studies and bong water reclamation programs.
No great loss. Just look at the “Help Wanted” ads and see how many are looking for grads with bachelor’s degrees in English, history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, recreation and leisure studies, physical education, feminine studies, literature, photography, art, african american studies, art history, and architectural studies. Anything with the term ‘studies” in it is bound to be even more worthless than the others.
I am not so sure that anyone is learning anything that useful by getting a degree in graphic arts, either.
I thought English majors could always get a job at the English Factory.