RALEIGH, NC — Two public universities in North Carolina will be allowed to cut more than a dozen programs, ranging from ancient Mediterranean studies to physics. The university system’s board of governors approved the cuts Wednesday.
The University of North Carolina Board of Trustees vote follows requests from the chancellors of UNC Asheville and UNC Greensboro to eliminate multiple academic degree programs from their university, despite resistance from faculty who wanted to find alternative avenues for their programs.
An affirmative vote means the chancellors can now move forward with program cuts, which could include laying off tenured faculty, said David English, senior vice president of academic affairs at the UNC System. The chancellors’ decisions would eliminate certain degrees, but individual courses from those programs could still be offered to students majoring in other fields.
The cuts will take effect from the next school year.
Financial woes prompted the decision to cut programs at UNC Asheville, which had 2,925 students enrolled in the fall 2023 semester. The university projected a $6 million deficit as of June 30, partly due to enrollment dropping more than 900 students over five years, according to a UNC Asheville academic portfolio review document.
Similar problems are brewing at UNC Greensboro, an institution with more than 17,700 students enrolled last fall. The university has tried for years to avoid cuts to its “academic core,” but Chancellor Franklin Gilliam said during an earlier committee meeting Wednesday that UNC Greensboro needs change after losing 2,500 students in four years.
The board’s vote affects UNC Asheville’s undergraduate programs in ancient Mediterranean studies, drama, philosophy and religious studies. The decision could also eliminate concentrations in French and German for students pursuing language degrees.
According to Chancellor Kimberly van Noort, it is estimated that more than 60 students will be affected by the program’s termination at UNC Asheville.
“We cannot always offer all opportunities to all students at all institutions,” Van Noort said during the committee meeting.
Cuts at UNC-Greensboro affected 14 degrees across various levels of education, including:
1. Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology
2. Bachelor’s degrees in physics
3. Master’s degree in nursing
4. Master’s degree in mathematics
5. Master’s degree in Languages, Literature and Cultures
6. Doctorate in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Individual programs of study have been created for many students already enrolled in the canceled degrees. For some programs, decisions have not yet been made about what will happen to the faculty.
Many board members praised the chancellors’ choices, with some calling them “courageous.” One board member, Cameron Brown, was more skeptical of the cuts, saying the decision “seemed disconnected from student opinion.”
“I think if I was enrolled there as a student, I would feel like I didn’t have enough experience,” said Brown, who is a master’s student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC Asheville faculty voiced their opinions to the board by submitting a letter in response to the proposed program eliminations. The letter outlined a three-step plan that focuses on retiring faculty members, combining departments and reassessing the curriculum, and establishing a more collaborative method for conducting academic program reviews in the future.
“Making decisions about curriculum and staffing under pressure creates a context of fear and uncertainty among all stakeholders on campus: students, faculty and staff,” reads the letter, which was signed by 24 department chairs and directors.
The expected cuts at both universities may be just the beginning of the “hard work” required to manage the budgets of every public university in North Carolina, said board member Sonja Phillips Nichols. There are 17 schools in the UNC system.
“We need to do this on every campus,” Nichols said. “I hope everyone is preparing for this very difficult and very necessary path that we have to walk.”