Rest in Peace: College Closings

[AustenNut]

As there is now a thread about the West Virginia cuts, I’ve posted my next response over there:

Deep cuts at West Virginia University

FYI for those considering applying to West Virginia University: shocking cuts to undergraduate and graduate programs were announced today, including the entire department of world languages. These cuts affect liberal arts and pre-professional departments alike, undergraduate and graduate, and they’re not done. Only those programs up for review in the current cycle are affected as of now, but program review is cyclical, with a minority of programs coming up in any given year. That means more is coming. The university is arguing that only 2% of students are affected by the eliminated majors, but of course this is deceptive math, considering that this figure just includes students who are majoring in the cut departments, and all students take courses outside their majors. I’m not sure if that 2% includes graduate students. Anyhow – buyer beware, as it were. This is deeply troubling for its potential implications for WVU’s peer institutions – is this the acceleration of a trend, or an ou…