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Thursday, April 21, 2011
WSU considers demotions to cope with budget cuts
FAIRBORN - Wright State University administrators’ decision to demote six department heads, all of them women, in the college of liberal arts has outraged students and faculty.
It’s a first look at how the university will deal with overall state budget cuts of 10.5 percent to higher education next year, or $15 million for WSU. Each college is expected to see a 3.5 percent cut in 2012, Charles Taylor, dean of the liberal arts college, told students.
“This is serious,” he said. “Everybody is getting this. Other colleges have not made any announcements.”
Students responded with frustration during a public forum in Millett Hall Thursday toward cuts and changes they see as possibly hindering their academic progress and further marginalizing already small degree programs.
“It really crushes my heart this is the first option we are taking. That this is the first budget cut we are making,” said Naomi McDowell, a senior from Xenia.
The college of liberal arts has to cut $800,000 from its operating budget next year, said Taylor. To do so, 12 empty teaching positions will be eliminated and the six department heads will give up their administrative duties and teach more courses.
“I don’t have much flexibility here,” Taylor told the crowd of about 100 students and professors that came to learn more about the plans. “This is a real challenge for me.”
The department heads being demoted are all part of the college’s interdisciplinary programs and include: Women’s Studies, African American Studies, International studies, Criminal Justice, Social Science Education and Liberal Studies. An assistant dean would be hired to take over the departments’ administrative functions, essentially merging oversight of the six disciplines.
Taylor acknowledged the demotions themselves would not save the college money, but having the former administrators teach more would allow him to leave empty 12 teaching positions to make up for the proposed budget cut. He said he was open to other ideas. The college of liberal arts has more than 35 study disciplines.
Kelli Zaytoun, director of the Women’s Studies program, said she feared the programs would suffer without individual leadership. “I understand the dean is faced with a difficult decision; he is in a difficult position,” Zaytoun said.
