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WSU considers demotions to cope with budget cuts
FAIRBORN - Wright State University administrators’ decision to demote six department heads, all of them women, in the college of liberal arts has outraged students and faculty.
It’s a first look at how the university will deal with overall state budget cuts of 10.5 percent to higher education next year, or $15 million for WSU. Each college is expected to see a 3.5 percent cut in 2012, Charles Taylor, dean of the liberal arts college, told students.
“This is serious,” he said. “Everybody is getting this. Other colleges have not made any announcements.”
Students responded with frustration during a public forum in Millett Hall Thursday toward cuts and changes they see as possibly hindering their academic progress and further marginalizing already small degree programs.
“It really crushes my heart this is the first option we are taking. That this is the first budget cut we are making,” said Naomi McDowell, a senior from Xenia.
The college of liberal arts has to cut $800,000 from its operating budget next year, said Taylor. To do so, 12 empty teaching positions will be eliminated and the six department heads will give up their administrative duties and teach more courses.
“I don’t have much flexibility here,” Taylor told the crowd of about 100 students and professors that came to learn more about the plans. “This is a real challenge for me.”
The department heads being demoted are all part of the college’s interdisciplinary programs and include: Women’s Studies, African American Studies, International studies, Criminal Justice, Social Science Education and Liberal Studies. An assistant dean would be hired to take over the departments’ administrative functions, essentially merging oversight of the six disciplines.
Taylor acknowledged the demotions themselves would not save the college money, but having the former administrators teach more would allow him to leave empty 12 teaching positions to make up for the proposed budget cut. He said he was open to other ideas. The college of liberal arts has more than 35 study disciplines.
Kelli Zaytoun, director of the Women’s Studies program, said she feared the programs would suffer without individual leadership. “I understand the dean is faced with a difficult decision; he is in a difficult position,” Zaytoun said.
Comments
By WSUFAN
April 25, 2011 10:38 AM | Link to this
Funny how academic departmants get cut while the Nutter Center and Athletics get MILLION DOLLAR video boards. It is good to see they have their priorities straight over there!
By OFAGD
April 24, 2011 7:15 PM | Link to this
Who is funding this phenomenal Get Motivated event scheduled for Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at WSU Nutter Center? Get Fired Up! Call 1-800-403-1975. It looks like” The Liberal Arts Department may have to offset the cost of $800K! I was thankful to see Get Motivated coming to Dayton and not Cincinnati this year. I am truly sorry; I did not know that The Liberal Arts Department had to suffer the consequences.
By adjunct
April 23, 2011 11:29 AM | Link to this
@ohiodale, it’s not a waste if students will pay for the courses. Your business sense is terrible. Why do stores sell soda? It’s got no nutritional value and people could just drink water. It’s a waste of money! GRrrrrr
By adjunct
April 23, 2011 11:26 AM | Link to this
I don’t see how this will save money. These chairs will have to teach 4 more hours per semester, at most. WSU pays adjuncts about $500 per credit hour taught. So having these chairs teach will save 6*4=24 credit hours a semester, or 48 adjunct credit hrs for the whole year. That’s only 24K a year. There’s no way they can hire an assistant dean for that much. Their plan will actually cost more money. This is an example of admins wanting more admins, because an assistant dean is essentially a slave to the dean. A dept chair has the dept’s interests in mind.
By joey
April 22, 2011 6:58 PM | Link to this
Sounds like these liberal mumbo jumbo classes needed to go. Way to WSU…wish all school and government departments would make cuts that are a waste of money and pandering to the few that are just feel good money drains.
By Fan of Leon The Man
April 22, 2011 5:17 PM | Link to this
Have you noticed that edubabblers and student children and their media fans never demand that they and their parents pay more for their never-ending ever-increasing demands. It seems to me that they rant for grants that they pester and pray for but never personally pay for.
By WSUgrad
April 22, 2011 5:09 PM | Link to this
As a former student of some of these professors, I am disappointed to see these cuts. These are great programs that provide a diverse learning environment at Wright State. Hopefully there will be other plans put in place to save money that will not be a slap in the face to such great professors.
By Therese
April 22, 2011 4:10 PM | Link to this
Why does academia always think they are immune from rest of the world.No profession is exempt this mess we have going on,someone else can oversee the big trouble in the liberal arts dept.
By CC
April 22, 2011 3:50 PM | Link to this
My question is how much is the “new” dean going to cost to run these programs. My guess is more than what the faculty are being paid now do administer the programs. Just what WSU needs is more administrators. It seems to me that faculty are what is needed considering enrollment is up again this spring. Check out the info and you will see that enrollment continues to rise at a rate of approximately 3% per quarter but all they add is more administrative positions.
By Quentin
April 22, 2011 3:19 PM | Link to this
Ok, they don’t like seeing programs cut which will qualify the students to have ZERO real world job skills. Sorry but if anyone tried to get a Man’s Studies or European American Studies program and degree setup these same individuals would have a fit over it. Also I have seen some of what is taught in at least the Woman’s Studies program there from when I was a student and while not as radical as many others, they still have some serious problems with any research that has been done which is counter to an agenda.
By richi
April 22, 2011 3:12 PM | Link to this
Hey! save the money for education for the ignorants who don’t learn anything anyway at WSU.Besides if the students have the time to make complaints about staff cuts they should be the first to go.
By dawn tindall
April 22, 2011 2:48 PM | Link to this
I find the choices interesting. Some of these are the newer departments, and those created due to student demand—created to make WSU competitive with other universities. If I remember correctly, these aren’t even the smallest departments in liberal arts. A few of these Department Heads achieved their status because they were the best at WSU and the best after a search. The others were brought to Dayton after extensive nationwide searches. Daytonians are up in arms that NCR employees were moved to Atlanta then demoted or let go. This is similar. Finally, remember that Gov. Kasich’s first draft budget showed a 3% INCREASE for higher education. Personally, I never believed it, but I hope everyone remembers it.
By Null & Void
April 22, 2011 2:10 PM | Link to this
Another way to cut corners is to charge female students 25% more for tuition than male students. That’s the “Wright” way, isn’t it?
By dumbohio
April 22, 2011 2:07 PM | Link to this
Ohiodale, go back to your redneck farm, these programs are needed. College isn’t about becoming an engineer or doctor or lawyer. It is called a UNIVERSITY which means many discplines. Wake up and get a clue…
By FAM
April 22, 2011 2:06 PM | Link to this
Ohiodale, And you based your opinon on What facts? Do you ahve anything more then the titles of these programs to determine that they are a waste of money?
By Gorby
April 22, 2011 12:21 PM | Link to this
With an Ohio $3.8B deficit, it appears the approach WSU is taking based on their share of the budget cut is very responsible.
By Dr. Judith Ezekiel
April 22, 2011 12:18 PM | Link to this
I was happy to see the article (“WSU plans to demote profs to cut costs draws anger”) and to have the Daily News journalist attend the student forum about the situation at Wright State University. However, there’s a huge error in the final article. It says that “having the 6 department heads give up their administrative duties to teach more courses would allow [Dean Taylor] to eliminate 12 teaching positions that are currently open.” This is not what Dean Charles Taylor said. He said that by not filling the 12 vacant positions, the College of Liberal Arts more than covers the necessary $800,000 in cuts. So let’s correct the math: 12 professors teach about 84 classes. In contrast, the course releases of the 6 directors of the interdisciplinary programs represent only 12 classes. Were those classes paid by adjunts, and paid at the going rate, this only represents about $20,000 in total or 2.5% of $800,000.
By ohiodale
April 22, 2011 11:39 AM | Link to this
In my opinion these programs were a waste of money to begin with.