Has anyone noticed or had the feeling that the quantity and frequency of news from the university has been severely limited? I am an old timer and have been following Valpo since graduating in 1973. I clearly detect a lawyer at the helm (Padilla) and a lawyerly restricted approach to providing information versus past Valpo presidents who seemed to make a greater effort to highlight activities and news about the university. I am slowly loosing interest in supporting the university because of this. This "quiet" approach does not engender support or loyalty. For example, what is happening with the proposed art sale, dorm renovations, enrollment status, additions/deletions to programs, new nursing building plans, real estate transactions/plans.
I don’t see a conspiracy here, but I have always been a bit frustrated by the administration doing so much close-to-the-vest business. My natural instinct is to come up with an idea, throw it against a wall and see if it sticks. Valpo not so much. And it goes way back before Padilla and Heckler. But recently, Padilla: “we’ll build a new arena.” Since then: crickets. No concept art. No general specs. Nothing that can get people enthused. “We need to upgrade on-campus housing”: how and where? Concept drawings? Not much info there to rally around.
The whole university is currently consumed by the recent academic review and the controversial program discontinuance process that involves multiple significant departments for which decisions must be made this semester.
The whole university is currently consumed by the recent academic review and the controversial program discontinuance process that involves multiple significant departments for which decisions must be made this semester.
https://www.valpotorch.com/news/article_40aa6c80-d805-11ee-be34-1304e442bb86.html
On March 1, Valparaiso University Provost Eric Johnson announced a list of programs that are being considered for possible discontinuance. Of the 28 programs revealed, 18 are undergraduate and 10 are graduate. Bachelor of Music in all concentrations, as well as the theology major and minor, are among the programs up for review.
The released list includes the following for undergraduate programs:
Actuarial science major and minor
Astronomy major and minor
Bachelor of Music (all concentrations)
Complementary humanities major
Economics and computer analysis major
German major
Global studies majors (all concentrations)
International business and international business and global studies minor
International relations major and minor
Philosophy major and minor
Public and professional writing major and minor
Public health major
Spanish major
Statistics major and applied statistics minor
Supply chain and logistics management major and minor
Theology and ministry major and minor
Theology major and minor
As for graduate programs, Johnson provided the following:
Cybersecurity
Digital media
Educational and psychological foundations
English studies and communication
Initial licensure - elementary education
Nurse educator
Public health (global health)
Public health (no concentration)
Sports media
TESOL
Good gracious. Those are some serious possible changes. It seems extreme to say the least and in my view, signs of serious problems.
All those programs and article states it would only effect 3% of undergraduate students if they were all closed...how many students are in each of these majors?
I got an email this afternoon from the Drake University president (I graduated from Drake Law '81) and Drake is undergoing the same review of programs that VU has undertaken. The email references "difficult decisions" that have to be made.
VU is not alone.
I would be disappointed if we dropped music and theology programs. VU has a good reputation in both areas.
Paul
Sad to say but they needed to be more proactive in these changes. This is fiscally smart and required to keep Valpo afloat. If 18 majors are discontinued, and the Valpo enrollment is 3000, then that averages to 5 students per major over 4 years. With staffing required per major, this is not fiscally sustainable.
that being said, students currently enrolled can continue with these majors. People are going to be upset but the facts are enrollment has dropped.
Some on the list are clearly small niche majors and programs. But what does it say when a university with a Lutheran and theological core at its very foundation gives up on theology majors and minors? And the end of music, philosophy, languages, etc., as majors is surely more evidence of the national decline of the humanities.
Perhaps some of these departments will exist in limited form to fulfill general education requirements, and that's a good thing. And if students discover a passion for those subjects and wish to do deeper dives beyond the distribution requirements, then hopefully they'll have viable transfer options.
As a slight aside, Valpo was once a major producer of K-12 teachers, but I think all that will remain is a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a general M.Ed. at the graduate level. It's a small tragedy that with many school districts begging for qualified teachers, students are avoiding the profession and schools like Valpo are steadily pulling away.
Fiscal responsibility obviously must be a priority for any university. At times, however, cuts can be so deeply symbolic that core institutional elements are painfully lost.
The closing of the Law School obviously captured that dynamic on so many levels. I have argued that shutting down the Law School avoided the necessity of deeply "taxing" the rest of the University to subsidize the generous scholarships that would've allowed the Law School to compete in a ferociously competitive marketplace. But still, the Law School was a big part of VU's identity.
Much smaller in scale, but material in substance, would be the elimination of the theology and philosophy majors. Suddenly, a university with a defining heritage of Lutheranism, faith, and inquiry no longer offers theology and philosophy majors. There are market-based reasons for these decisions, too, but they nevertheless signal another loss to VU's identity.
Of course, that doesn't even begin to address the hurt, fear, and desperation heaped upon the scabs of the injured morale on campus, going back to the last round of big cuts. There are a lot of shell shocked people on and around the VU campus today. It's all very sad.
David81 - my daughter majors in elementary education and visited Valpo in 2019. After the tour she decided it wouldn’t make sense to pursue a degree there. Valpo doesn’t provide state accreditation support, and mostly, the program had nothing really going for it other than a high tuition. Teaching salaries are not exactly high, and instead of paying back over $100k in going to a state school and leaving debt free made more sense.
@usc4valpo that helps to illustrate my point. This once relatively affordable private university had a stellar record of turning out some darn good teachers.
As others have posted, VU's latest list of possible program cuts mirrors similar announcements at other schools. A well-known higher ed consultant made these emerging cuts the subject of a March 1 blog post (the piece does not include Valpo):
https://bryanalexander.org/economics/starting-2024-with-all-kinds-of-academic-cuts/
Absent a sudden, miraculous influx of huge donations, I fear that many regional private universities will be faced with picking among the lesser of evils in the effort to stay open and solvent:
- Cutting to the bone, and sometimes into the bone, to a point where the institution is tremendously diminished in terms of its once special qualities; and/or,
- Creating a separate division of cookie-cutter, online masters degrees of questionable value, taught by overworked and demoralized full-time faculty and cheaply paid part-time faculty, using the excess revenues to subsidize the residential, on-campus operation.
If the music program is dropped, I think Valpo should advertise for band members from the community. Very likely there are people who played in their high school and college bands who would love to dust off the old trumpet and get involved. Case in point, one of my nephews moved here from Colorado 2 years ago and has become a big bb fan. He was a professional drummer and said he would welcome an opportunity to get involved.
The band can be creative like the Rice MOB!
