To meet $12 million in state-mandated budget cuts, the UW must consider closing the School of Communications and the applied math, Slavic languages and literature, and speech communication departments, President Gerberding announced Nov. 30.
In addition, degree programs in fiber arts, systematic musicology and radiological sciences are under review, as is the Institute of Environmental Studies. About 200 faculty and staff positions are likely to be cut by July 1.
Not all units under review may be eliminated. If all departments and programs on the College of Arts and Sciences list were cut, the UW would save $9.5 million. The college’s ultimate goal is a $4.9 million cut. More units are under review to give decision makers flexibility in the final cuts. “In order to have the review process go forward in a fair way, we had to name more programs than will likely be eliminated,” Arts and Sciences Dean John Simpson told The Daily.
Public hearings on the proposed eliminations were held in January and February. By March 15, Simpson and his college council should receive reports from review committees analyzing each program. The dean’s recommendations for elimination will be released April 1. That decision must be approved by President Gerberding and the Board of Regents. Affected units may initiate an appeal process.
In addition to the $12 million cut, the University is reserving an additional $6.4 million in state funds and $4 million in other funds to meet commitments and cover costs of program eliminations, including the retention of tenured faculty.
At the Nov. 30 meeting announcing the cuts, President Gerberding said, “The passage of Initiative 601 is the immediate cause of this meeting today.” I-601 limits the amount the state can spend out of its general fund. In order to fund a salary increase, the Legislature told state universities to plan for a 2.4 percent cut.
“The whole process has been a nightmare,” Gerberding told the packed Kane Hall lecture room.
“Everyone believes that these programs are the kind that belong at a first-rate university and the University of Washington.” But under the legislative mandate, the UW cannot continue to do everything it is currently doing, he added.
Undergraduate students who are majors in an eliminated program will be given a reasonable opportunity to finish their degrees. Options for graduate students in programs that are eliminated will be developed by the Graduate School Council. The UW will offer tenured faculty in closed departments continuing employment.
The reduction, if implemented during the current legislative session, would bring the University’s total state-funded budget cuts to $65 million since 1992, or roughly 10 percent of its state budget. Over three years, more than 600 faculty and staff positions will have been eliminated.
“After enduring $53 million in budget cuts over the past several years, a broad consensus emerged on campus that it was simply no longer acceptable to continue to erode programs in a roughly across-the-board manner,” said President Gerberding. “The University is approaching these latest budget cuts with a goal of preserving quality by leaving some programs untouched and reorganizing or eliminating others. The price to pay for this is high and will mean the discontinuation of worthwhile, highly valued programs.”
Cuts will be felt throughout the University:
Reaction to the cuts was swift. Communications Director Ed Bassett said, “We believe the School of Communications is central to the mission of the University of Washington. We are developing expertise in specialized communications fields that will benefit the citizens of the state of Washington now and in the future. We believe the School of Communications should continue.”
The communications school has 22 faculty with about 470 undergraduate majors and about 70 graduate majors. It has sequences in advertising, public relations, broadcast journalism, editorial journalism and media studies.
The Department of Slavic Languages and Literature has 12 faculty serving 53 undergraduate majors and 26 graduate majors. It offers instruction in Russian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Romanian and Serbo-Croatian. It also offers literature courses and sponsors the Russian House.
The Department of Speech Communications has 15 faculty and currently serves 117 undergraduate majors and 49 graduate majors. It offers instruction in public speaking, interpersonal communication, oral interpretation and communication theory.
The Department of Applied Mathematics has about 10 faculty who teach five undergraduate majors and 37 graduate majors. The field uses mathematical modeling and problem-solving in the physical, biological and social sciences and engineering.
Units under review will be judged by three criteria, said Arts and Sciences Dean Simpson: