West Virginia University Planning to Cut a Dozen Majors, Reduce Staff

West Virginia University Planning to Cut a Dozen Majors, Reduce Staff

This is not a good sign for a school of this size.

The Associated Press reports:

West Virginia University outlines proposed program and faculty cuts

West Virginia University on Friday recommended the elimination of 32, or 9%, of the majors offered on its Morgantown campus along with a wide-ranging reduction in faculty to address a $45 million budget shortfall.

A dozen majors recommended to be axed are undergraduate-level, while 20 are graduate-level majors. The university said the proposed cuts would represent a total of 434 students, or 2% of its total enrollment.

There are 169 potential reductions in faculty, or 7% of the total in Morgantown, WVU said in a news release.

The university has said the goal of the review is to align its academic programs with student demand, career opportunity and market trends while ensuring an efficient delivery of its offerings.

“While we view these preliminary recommendations for reductions and discontinuations as necessary, we are keenly aware of the people they will affect,” university President E. Gordon Gee said in a news release. “We do not take that lightly. These faculty are our colleagues, our neighbors and our friends. These decisions are difficult to make.”

“We are addressing the many challenges that higher education is facing so that we can be an even stronger university in the future,” Gee continued.

Gee and other top university officials have said the budget shortfall is largely a result of enrollment declines. The student population at West Virginia University has dropped 10% since 2015.

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.