Gordon Gee, president of West Virginia College, has proposed slicing 9 % of the majors the college presents and seven % of its fulltime college.
The proposal was introduced by the college here, and lined by Inside Higher Ed right here. (There’s some attention-grabbing commentary on Gee here.)
Some humanities packages could be affected by the proposal. Majors in a number of international languages could be eradicated, for instance, and several other packages within the English Division must lower college.
But the advice for the Division of Philosophy, whose undergraduate main went underneath evaluation, was to “proceed on the present degree of exercise.”
Not all packages on the college had been reviewed. Philosophy at WVU was notified in July that their BA program could be topic to evaluation due to the next:
- Undergraduate enrollment within the Philosophy program is small and declined over 5 years (2018-2022).
- Departmental scholar credit score hours and tuition income decreased over three years (2020-2022).
- Full-time college elevated by one over 4 years (2020-2023). The ratio of program majors to full-time college is properly under the median.
- Departmental bills decreased over three years (2020-2022).
- Tuition revenues exceeded bills yearly over three years, however the development worsened over time (2020-2022).
The Department of Philosophy undertook a self-study, and the plan it developed was taken under consideration by the administration in its “preliminary recommendation” to depart the most important as it’s:
The plan offered by the unit in its self-study proposed a decreased use of GTAs and supplemental college, a rise in income by recruitment, a rise to part sizes; though, no plan to considerably cut back value was offered. The self-study immediately engaged with the unit’s knowledge and offered significant context however over-relied on the significance of double majors of their enrollment analyses. The self-study offered a robust argument that the unit produces important income in an environment friendly method. Unit labored with Provost’s Workplace to appropriate college knowledge.
Each the explanations for evaluation and the language of the preliminary suggestion present info as to what the directors take a look at when deciding whether or not and tips on how to lower packages. Be aware, for instance, the remarks about double majors, upon which philosophy packages on the whole are likely to depend, and which has been an issue with program cuts at different colleges.
The ultimate vote on the proposed cuts by the college’s Board of Governors will happen on September fifteenth, in response to a schedule posted by the college.
