@valpopal yoy cut out the admin inside the department by cutting degrees. Each degree needs a full time dean, advisors, secretary's and other administration aspects. Sure, professors will leave and higher level classes will be cut, but that doesn't change the fact that people are still not pursuing these degrees. It's pointless to staff a full department for degrees that maybe 3 people total are actually considering. It's throwing money down the drain. Hence why these departments are on the chopping block in the first place. It's hemmoriging money that the school cannot afford to loose at the current time. This isn't to say that these degrees won't be returning, but they are simply, in the scheme of the modern world, not degrees people pursue anymore. VU may be a religious achool, and I understand people may view having a degree such as German or Theology as something essential to a religious school, but tell me where these degrees can be applied in the modern world. Keep the instructors. Part ways with everyone else.
@valpopal yoy cut out the admin inside the department by cutting degrees. Each degree needs a full time dean, advisors, secretary's and other administration aspects. Sure, professors will leave and higher level classes will be cut, but that doesn't change the fact that people are still not pursuing these degrees. It's pointless to staff a full department for degrees that maybe 3 people total are actually considering. It's throwing money down the drain. Hence why these departments are on the chopping block in the first place. It's hemmoriging money that the school cannot afford to loose at the current time. This isn't to say that these degrees won't be returning, but they are simply, in the scheme of the modern world, not degrees people pursue anymore. VU may be a religious achool, and I understand people may view having a degree such as German or Theology as something essential to a religious school, but tell me where these degrees can be applied in the modern world. Keep the instructors. Part ways with everyone else.
Again, this is simply not true. Cutting a major and minor in a department does not reduce any administrators. Departments don't have "deans." They don't have "advisors": faculty do the advising. Departments do not have "secretaries": administrative assistants are shared by departments. At least you acknowledge "professors will leave and higher level classes will be cut"; however, your categorization that a program is "pointless" because "maybe 3 people" are impacted is a result of the deception in the university's public relations release. Cut programs and every student at the university is influenced by having electives eliminated in numerous areas.
I wonder about your comment suggesting the university "Keep the instructors. Part ways with everyone else." Since you acknowledged "professors will leave and higher level classes be cut," do you mean to staff numerous departments at the university with part-time adjuncts who are cheap and receive no benefits? I think you are more closely describing a community college.
@david81 Here's the thing. They are only considering cutting the physical degrees for these programs, they are not considering cutting the classes for these programs. I think the media is blowing this review way out of proportion and making misleading headlines in order to generate clicks. The classes for these courses will still be offered, most likely as elective courses, which is what most Christian Universities are moving towards. Simply put, no one is pursuing a theology or German degree, but people are pursuing degrees in health, social work, engineering, and tech. Valpo needs to make a statement soon regarding this as the media is starting to have a field day with them cutting degrees and not classes as a whole.
Is the media blowing things all out of proportion, or are they working with what the University has given them in terms of available information? What efforts has VU undertaken to correct the narrative?
Also, my insider sources may not be as reliable as others', but per what others have written here, isn't this also affecting the job security of full-time faculty?
Again, why does a Christian university need a German major? Is it a Lutheran university, or a German Lutheran university. Do we have to be German Lutheran, or will the tradition police come out?
Either way, Valpo needs to make cut for a lower enrollment. It sucks, and there's nothing that feel good about it. However, you have to keep focused on the your strengths and the market need.
Alright. Here is the article i referenced previously with an in-depth analysis
Is Valpo cutting majors?
Yes. and what school shouldn't be looking into cutting majors that simply are not performing well. servicing only 3% of student population is bleeding money. Money cannot be afforded losses at this point. While I hope to see these degrees return, there must be some trade-offs. Valpo is not alone in reviewing declining programs. Schools across the country are seeing declining enrollment rates. According to the article, this is most likely due to the decline in high school graduates from a decline in birth rates coupled with the midwest being the Midwest. Not all programs are certain to be eliminated as well. This is only a performance review. Eric Johnson affirmed in his memo that related courses will still be taught. Take the admins word as you will, but this is still the official statement to go off of. I feel as if it is important to "give them a chance". More information will surely be provided in due time as to what programs are being eliminated.
Is Valpo adding majors?
Yes. Social work is receiving a master's program. And the aforementioned online health degrees are being added. It seems VU is looking to add where degrees are in high demand, and cut where degrees are in low demand. However, this is just an opinion and not fact.
Will staff be reduced?
Yes. They expect to have a "limited staff reduction" but did not provide numbers. This is what I find concerning. You still need QUALIFIED instructors to teach courses regardless of degrees being associated or not. Low-level math courses such as Calc 1 and 2 can get away with having graduate students teaching them, but you should not have history, theology, or any other liberal arts courses being taught by someone who isn't qualified to do so. Adjucts being asked to each these courses is also inexcusable. You have qualified staff on hand to do so as it is. Alienating your staff and cutting instructors is inexcusable. Higher level courses such as those in the 400 and 500 level will most likely be lost as those are most likely not courses to be taken based on an elective. The theology course requirement will not go away. This is still a religious school. As for my comments about admins, the school runs the philosophy and theology majors as its separate departments. As such, these have department chairs, research professors, and coordinators who are associated with these departments. These jobs I expect to be in jeopardy.
I hope I have provided relevant context to my claims.
@rezynezy Calc 1 and 2 taught by grad students? Valpo has a masters program in Math?
Are 2 or 3 minimum courses in theology required to say you are a Christian University?
@usc4valpo I was more speaking broadly when referring to having grad students teach calc 1 and 2. If no masters program exists, then yoy still need qualified instructors. As for being a Christian university. I agree with having required theology courses. Much like liberal arts schools require liberal arts courses to all degrees.
@rezynezy The article you cite is just about useless because it is merely written by a staff reporter who summarizes Johnson's perspective. Even so, "limited staff reductions" does acknowledge there will be reductions, including senior tenured faculty since they are the ones who teach the upper-level classes being eliminated. As I mentioned previously, the "3%" stat is misleading at best, and I regard it as deceptive. The 3% refers to majors but does not include students across the campus who might want to take electives in the programs being cut.
Your closing comments are inaccurate. "The theology course requirement will not go away. This is still a religious school. As for my comments about admins, the school runs the philosophy and theology majors as its separate departments. As such, these have department chairs, research professors, and coordinators who are associated with these departments. These jobs I expect to be in jeopardy." First, there is discussion of reducing the theology gen ed by half from 2 classes to 1 class. Second, a department chair is a faculty member who also teaches classes and not a separate position. Third, the research professors in theology are retired and do not receive a salary. Fourth, there are no department "coordinators."
@rezynezy I said your comment about the requirement was "inaccurate" rather than wrong because if the standard is reduced from 2 classes to 1 class, then technically a requirement of 2 classes is going away. Also, I do not see "coordinators" listed for theology or philosophy on the page you mention. Are you referencing Gary and McDonald, listed as "associate faculty"? They are faculty members elsewhere on campus outside the philosophy and theology department payroll. Even if the university did remove the title of chair and any "perks," which I doubt, it would only mean that faculty member gets an increased teaching load. Finally, at Valparaiso University the research professorship is honorary. It does not include a salary or any medical and pension benefits.
@valpopal if they aren't offering incentives for being a chairperson they have bigger fish to fry. Yoy should be offering incentives for taking up a demanding role. You did answer my question with associated staff. They are not from the department. As for my institution of IUI our research professors are not honorary. Glad we could clear the air. Thanks for the discussion. Hopefully we can respect our instructors and find a common ground with the cuts.
The Decline Of Valparaiso University A Tragedy For American Lutherans
As I always mention, I very much respect others' religious views. However, outside of Notre Dame, if a university is going to pin its hopes on primarily retaining a religious identity to maintain or grow enrollment, those schools will shutter in the coming decades. There is a dramatic drop-off in religious participation of any kind from my generation (Xennial) down to today's youth, and that trend is not going to stop. Kids have more access to information nowadays, and that will only increase with more technology. For all of the positive that religion can bring to someone, there is so much more information out there about the various scandals (which make their way to Hulu and Netflix), that it turns people away. That is what turned me away heading into HS, in seeing all of these people claiming to be extremely moral folks, and then doing all of these crazy things, explaining away that 'we all have our faults.' This is still happening, where someone can commit felonies, and some people will just dismiss it, as 'who hasn't sinned?' That doesn't jive with me, and it doesn't jive with today's youth.
