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Sonoma State University Makes Massive Cuts and Ends Athletics

Sonoma State University Makes Massive Cuts and Ends Athletics

“Further steps must be taken to fully close the budget gap and ensure Sonoma State’s financial capacity to best serve its current and future students and adapt to a changing higher education landscape”

Be sure to read to the bottom to see which degree programs are being cut.

Forbes reports:

Facing Huge Deficit, Sonoma State University Makes Massive Cuts, Ends Athletics

Facing a budget deficit that has grown to almost $24 million, Sonoma State University, one of the 23 campuses in the California State University system, has announced it will enact massive budget cuts, including the elimination of all of its intercollegiate athletic teams.

In a message to the campus Tuesday, Sonoma State University Interim President Emily F. Cutrer wrote that the university’s budget deficit had grown from the $21 million that was projected last fall to an estimated $23.9 million now.

She attributed the deficit to “a variety of factors — cost of personnel, annual price increases for supplies and utilities, inflation — but the main reason is enrollment.” Sonoma State has seen its enrollment drop 38% since reaching a high in 2015.

Cutrer said that the university had used several means to cut the deficit over the prior two years, a process that had yielded $6.8 million in savings. However, she said those methods — including voluntary employee separations, other personnel reductions, academic and operational downsizing, shared services, hiring freezes, and the use of reserves — were not enough.

“Further steps must be taken to fully close the budget gap and ensure Sonoma State’s financial capacity to best serve its current and future students and adapt to a changing higher education landscape,” Cutrer added. As a result, she indicated additional reductions would be realized through several actions.

As an initial step, 46 university faculty — including tenured, tenure-track and adjunct instructors — will not have their contracts renewed for 2025-26, and an additional number of lecturers will receive notice that they will not be re-employed in fall 2025. Impacted lecturers will be laid off as of May 23, 2025, while impacted tenure-track and tenured faculty will be laid off as of July 21, 2025.

In addition to the terminations, a hiring freeze will be imposed.

More than 20 academic degree programs will be discontinued, including the following:

The Administrative Services Credential in Education Leadership; Applied Statistics BA; Art History BA; Art Studio BFA; Executive MBA; Dance BA; Earth and Environmental Sciences BA; Economics BA; Education Leadership MA; English MA; French BA; Geology BS; Global Studies BA; History MA; Interdisciplinary Studies BA and BS; Interdisciplinary Studies MA and MS; Philosophy BA; Physical Science BA; Physics BA; Physics BS; Public Administration MPA; Spanish MA; Theatre Arts BA; Women’s and Gender Studies BA.

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Comments

OK, they talk about the programs being cut and the lecturers being fired, but, strangely, I don’t see anything about all the deans, and assistant deans and administrators being let go and the administrative offices being closed.

Considering that at most universities administrative staff has been increasing at a MUCH higher rate than teaching staff or students, it seems like that’s where I’d expect to see most of the cuts.

It’s almost like these places aren’t really about education after all, but more about providing jobs programs for academic administrative staff.

I’m guessing this isn’t going to solve their financial woes. I guess we’ll see.

I’m trying to conceptualize what a Physics BA is, as opposed to a Physics BS. Well, both of them are being cut anyway, so I guess the question is moot.

They really gutted their course catalog. Are they morphing into community college that does online only courses?

Sacramento blew its budget on other things, like bullet train to nowhere and free health insurance for illegal aliens?