Students Protest as University of Tulsa Slashes Liberal Arts Programs
“The university’s new plan will be phased in over time and is not expected to impact current students.”
Wait until you see how they are reorganizing these departments. One of the headings is “Humanities and Social Justice.”
The College Fix reports:
University of Tulsa slashes its liberal arts programs, prompting protests, accusations of mismanagement
The University of Tulsa is preparing to undergo a dramatic downsizing of its College of Arts and Sciences, one that will completely eliminate the philosophy, religious studies, dramatic arts and some language degrees, among other cuts.
“After months of careful review and assessment of our current academic offerings, the university decided to reduce the number of degree programs offered by 40 percent,” the university stated. “While this may seem significant, only 6 percent of our current students are enrolled in one of these programs for their primary degrees.”
But the decision, unveiled earlier this month, has prompted both professors and students to protest.
On Friday, a “funeral” for the liberal arts was held. And a recently launched petition seeks to “save the heart and soul of University of Tulsa,” arguing the cuts are actually a result of financial mismanagement and they will negatively impact academic rigor at the school.
“[M]ore than 246 students at the University of Tulsa were just told by the administration’s actions that their majors are unimportant, inconsequential, and irrelevant. And that is unacceptable,” the petition states.
The university’s new plan will be phased in over time and is not expected to impact current students. It aims to offer interdisciplinary degrees and minors that will incorporate engineering, natural sciences, professional programs and arts and sciences studies into a combined “university studies” program.
The College of Arts and Sciences will be further reduced to solely include four interdisciplinary degree programs: “Fine Arts and Media,” “Humanities and Social Justice,” “Human Biology and Behavior,” and “Ecology, Environment, and Sustainability.”
The University of Tulsa just abolished its traditional departments, including Economics and PoliSci.
Instead, it now has four broad divisions called “Ecology, Environment & Sustainability,” “Human Biology and Behavior,” “Fine Arts and Media” and… “Humanities & Social Justice.” pic.twitter.com/9hvKBDov6j
— Yascha Mounk (@Yascha_Mounk) April 16, 2019
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Comments
” were just told by the administration’s actions that their majors are unimportant, inconsequential, and irrelevant. And that is unacceptable,” the petition states.”
Is it unacceptable that they chose Starbucks majors or that someone pointed it out?
I’m not surprised to see them dumbing down their curriculum with virtue-signaling programs. But I hope they realize that their goal of being totally PC needs to include canceling all their foreign-language courses to avoid cultural appropriation.
If wearing a sombrero or eating tacos is cultural appropriation, it is much worse to speak Spanish. You have no business appropriating someone else’s language if you’re not a member of that identity group. So that will give them some more courses they can cancel.
I think I’d rather they keep Econ and get rid of the social justice malarkey. Also incorporating engineering into a “university studies” program seems like they’re moving further left…….
They really need to get rid of the majors that have no redeeming value: ethnic studies, gay studies, gender studies and Marxism studies.
Looks like the students just learned a lesson in Margaret Thatcher 101: “Eventually, you run out of other people’s money.”