What it be wrong fiscally for Valpo to place their eggs in their strengths and what most prospective students are pursuing, which I believe are the engineering, nursing, meteorology and business programs? Also, would one theology class be sufficient instead of 2 or 3?
@usc4valpo No, it wouldn't be. Valpo is in a really good spot geographically. Not too far from Chicago so students are able to pursue internships, and is also relatively affordable as far as private school tuition is concerned. I commend VU for finally admitting there is a growing issue and for taking efforts to mitigate. Former higher ups in VU seemed too proud to admit there was a problem
@rezynezy I was talking to my friend who is an alum, and embracing change is imperative these days. it worked well with DePauw and Gonzaga. I saw a minimum of one theology class as a requirement, but use the others for other liberal arts electives.
@usc4valpo it's not just a VU issue as well. Religious and secular schools alike are cutting majors in favor of focusing on what works and what doesn't. I do hope music is kept in good care as the city has a rich history. With the Chapel doubling as a concert venue and VHSs TIOS drawing large crowds. I also am very fond of tuba Christmas being a former tuba player. Hopefully theology is kept as a minor at least because of the religious aspect. To be honest. The biggest thing to hit VU was the name change, law program, and covid happening in a domino effect. If you'd asked me 2 years ago if VU would close, I would have said yes without a second thought. If yoy ask me today, I would say no VU will pick itself back up, but the road to do so is long and rocky
@rezynezy I agree, but they need to be more proactive which has historically never been a Valpo leadership trait. Personally I'd like to see the creative writing major dropped to piss off the student during the art sale complaining that is Valpo is becoming a tech school as if it's an evil trait.
@usc4valpo Honestly, Valpo is in a good position to become a tech school. The region is a growing market for tech seeing as Nisource and NIPSCO are leading the front in making the region and northern indiana run on green energy. I've been applying for internships in the tech world and noticed a considerable about of companies basing themselves in Valpo and the region as a whole. There is nothing g wrong with embracing a growing industry and trying to capitalize.
Here is what I have learned from current Theology faculty members, and I assume this applies to other departments as well. The program cuts are merely an end-run to eliminate faculty or replace full-time professors with less expensive adjuncts who also receive fewer benefits. The proposals to cut majors and minors in Theology (and in other departments) include withdrawal of tenure from individuals in those departments, to be replaced by one-year renewable appointments. The two required Theology courses in general ed. could be reduced to one, also dropping all advanced theology courses, making the lack of sophisticated teaching loads suitable to adjuncts rather than more experienced professors.
Support for research will be removed as well while Theology becomes a service department to provide the one remaining gen ed requirement class. The result will be increased teaching loads with two additional courses per faculty member each year and more students in every class without any salary increase. This will make Valparaiso University an unattractive location for job candidates in any areas impacted, especially when upper-level courses and research support have disappeared. With elimination or cutting of related programs—such as German, Music, and others—the university mission statement that boasts about being rooted in Lutheran tradition will be greatly diminished.
@beacon92 just read that article. It seems highly opinionated. Thr school needs to make a statement soon as to what programs are on the chopping block in order to not create mistrust
Edit: it seems as thought VU is trying to go full force into engineering and health. Maybe, being a Christian institution, they offer required theology courses much like how schools use speech and writing as requirement sfor their degrees. Dame has required theology courses as far as my knowledge is concerned
During my time on campus, I believe that we had to take 2 Theology courses, regardless of degree. Has this changed? Since I am not religious, I just went into those classes as pseudo-History classes, and ended up with A's in both lol.
@valpopal this is sadly also not a VU only issue. A lot of major campuses are screwing professors by replacing them with people that do not qualify for benefits and such. An example of such is my school of IUPUI. All of the Computer Science professors are not going to be offered tenure with either institution of IUI or PIN. While I do not enjoy this being the industry standard. This is simply the way the world of higher education works in our world
@valpopal this is sadly also not a VU only issue. A lot of major campuses are screwing professors by replacing them with people that do not qualify for benefits and such. An example of such is my school of IUPUI. All of the Computer Science professors are not going to be offered tenure with either institution of IUI or PIN. While I do not enjoy this being the industry standard. This is simply the way the world of higher education works in our world
As someone who has been in "the world of higher education" for 50 years, I can assure you this does not happen at all universities. In any case, I would contend we have an obligation to resist such instances of "screwing professors" whenever and however we can rather than accept it.
@valpopal why in the world should Valpo continue having a German major when there is no market or interest for it? I get the theology and music education needs to an extent, but why German? Hogan's Heroes is already in English!
@valpotx I didn't go to Valpo for the Lutheran or religious affiliation, although I respected it. I got B's in theology which for me was nothing short of a miracle.
@valpopal I agree 100%, we should be resisting this change. Professors deserve to get credit and compensation for their efforts.
@valpopal why in the world should Valpo continue having a German major when there is no market or interest for it? I get the theology and music education needs to an extent, but why German? Hogan's Heroes is already in English!
I am just relaying various comments I heard from current theology professors, one of which was that the cumulative effect of cutting theology, German, and music diminishes the mission statement declaring the university as rooted in the Lutheran tradition.
Sometimes you need to alter what is tradition. Bagging the German language major is not a big deal. You can have the Lutheran faith without accomodating a German major.
