Program cuts

[Tere North]

From the slides, it is really only one degree program being eliminated, Instructional Design & Technology, as all the others are minors. Don't really see that eliminating minors will have much impact on overall budget as most of those are part of a larger degree program. Actually quite surprised that IDT was singled out for elimination.

[sealhall74]

From the slides, it is really only one degree program being eliminated, Instructional Design & Technology, as all the others are minors. Don't really see that eliminating minors will have much impact on overall budget as most of those are part of a larger degree program. Actually quite surprised that IDT was singled out for elimination.

IDT sort of shocked me as well. Seems like the kind of thing you could leverage in-house much like the we use the broadcasting program to get hands-on experience at our own athletic events. But that is just my observation from 720 miles east. But that stuff takes equipment and a lot of time so that is maybe why it is on the chop block.

[LocalFan]

The plan for IDT is to move it to an online format and integrate it with the master's program. That plan isn't really clear from the powerpoint, but IDT is listed on the reinvestment slide. The area of more controversy would seem to be the programs to be reviewed- 4 undergraduate majors and 1 graduate major.

[Tere North]

To me it was more of a problem to see urban forestry and horticulture being cut. These are areas of considerable growth in agriculture, far more so that livestock and agronomy.

I imagine cutting Women's Studies will generate lots of complaint, even though so few students are served by it.

[sealhall74]

After going to the gym this PM and getting some blood flowing through my brain, I have to ask the question. Is it just me who thinks THIS cut proposal is more political posturing at this point than anything else? Very few dollars are on the table. If you are going to retrain staff whose programs are cut, it might cost you money if those folks stick around. Why mostly minors proposed to be cut? Simple - because nobody chooses a school because they want to get a minor in X. To say otherwise at this point would adversely affect potential recruits as well as professors on board.

[leatherface]

Regarding some earlier comments on athletics- a few years ago I felt D2 was what WESTERN can afford- and probably still feel that way to a certain extent. When you think about it, why should a school with limited resources be sending teams to Colorado, Dakota's and Oklahoma to play a game, when there are plenty of schools in the Midwest? However, there likely isn't a D2 conference to join. Yes, GLVC is regional, but, I would just as soon vomit as see WESTERN go to that conference. MIAA? Moving further west- why Truman left ( among some other issues), so travel expense and time out of class would still be a problem. I'm afraid WESTERN will remain in that zone of continuing to struggle in attracting true D1 athletes, and drifting in low tier D1. - Our great hope is that football will return to its glory days, but I'm starting to wonder about that.

I still say the OVC is a better fit- at least conference games can be seen in a large part of the student recruiting area.-- including St.Louis metro. As I've said before, I have now seen SIUe five times on local cable, and EIU three, and no Summit or WESTERN games even though we live less than 90 miles from Macomb.

[sealhall74]

The entire NCAA division landscape is in shambles at the present time. The idiots in charge worry about things that don't matter like "Wouldn't it sound much better to call our lower division I schools FCS instead of I-AA". If they would spend there time coming up with a way to balance out schools with regard to conference sizing, school enrollment, location, sports program progress (e.g. if you are not progressing well in some sport, you need to drop down a level to continue playing it or give it up), we would all be better off.

[ST_Lawson]

Add into the mix the thought/prediction that in a few years, we'll likely see a more formal "reorganization" of Division I athletics. Prompted by the divisions between the P5 and G5 FBS teams and recent rulings by the NCAA (like allowing "full-cost" scholarships), schools will be trying to position themselves in the best situation to take advantage of this movement.

I'd say that it's likely that within roughly 5 years we'll see some significant reorganization of the NCAA classification structure. The P5 already considers themselves essentially in a higher "division" than the G5 teams and have the money to either make the NCAA treat them as such (with different rules and "limits") or to pull away from the NCAA even more and possibly start their own organization of college athletics. When this starts to happen, G5 teams (and conferences) will try to find ways to stay at the higher levels of athletics, and some current FCS teams that want to continue playing at essentially the "second level" of college football will likely attempt to move up to whatever that level is.

I've heard of people from other schools in the MVFC advocating for a full conference move-up to whatever that second level is (possibly some group of what is currently the lower level of G5 conferences and the upper level of FCS conferences), but there are schools (like Western) that I don't think can handle the financial burden of making that type of move at this point. It wouldn't really be quite on the level of a current FCS->FBS move, but it'd still be more money having to be invested in facilities, scholarships, etc....money we don't have.

Much of this is spurred on by football, but it will have a pretty big impact on all of college athletics. Teams wanting to "move up" may have to cut some sports...some teams may have to move down to a lower division or stay where they're at while some of their "peers" and "conference-mates" go for the "big time".

Honestly, I don't know where it's all leading, but it's definitely heading somewhere and I hope Western can find our "best fit" in whatever the future situation is. No matter where we end up, as long as Western keeps sponsoring a football team, I'll keep going to games.

[ST_Lawson]

Also, more closely related to the budget that the Governor proposed. Word from "insiders" is that the budget that will actually be approved will have some cuts, but modest cuts...nothing like the 31% ($16.5 million) cuts that have been put forward. More likely closer to 3%-4%. Still, cutting programs that aren't serving many (or any) students should help somewhat.

[wiu712]

Wasn't there suppose to be an announcement upcoming about the future development of west side of Hanson Field ????