August 12, 2023

Back in May, I speculated about the state of my alma mater, West Virginia University, in "A Mountaineer Stands At The Edge Of The Enrollment Cliff." Most broadly, I was reflecting upon the College's sudden realization that it needed to be smaller, not bigger.

Well, Thursday and Friday of this week, the recommendations for elimination of programs and positions were announced, first to the faculty on Thursday, then in a general release to the press/public yesterday. According to a story in The Daily Athenaeum, WVU's student newspaper, the recommendations were initially going to be released Monday, August 14, but I conjecture that WVU officials learned from other sleazy institutions to bury the lead late in a week during the summer. That decision, which probably backfired when faculty started announcing the recommendations via social media late Thursday, would earn the College an "F" grade for press relations.

Still, there are other grades to assign to this report and the way it has played out. Frankly, grades run the gamut.

A Grade-- Among the programs cut are programs in higher education administration. The M.A. in Higher Education, the Ph.D. in Higher Education, and the Ed.D. in Higher Education have all been recommended for elimination (they use the softer term, "discontinuance"). That seems like a "duh" moment given how the higher education administration has administered WVU's recent path. There is a part of me that hates seeing the Ph.D. taken down with the Ed.D. but the distinctions are probably pretty minimal for the degree programs. As a general rule, Higher Ed has been run by people with Higher Ed Administration degrees for several decades. Their sciolism caught up with them.

B Grade - Seemingly similar to the programs in higher education administration, the degree programs in public administration are going. Apparently there were only two, so the whole department is being eliminated. The two programs were an M.L.S. in Legal Studies and an M.P.A. in public administration. Given the recent history of the Supreme Court, the entire field of "legal studies" seems in doubt, while generally public administration seems lost and astray from any intentions of doing public good. Even though I worry about the ability to change these current realities from a grass root level, I am not so sure cranking out more degrees in these areas is going to help, akin to the higher education mess described above.

C- Grade -- Not only have all the foreign language programs been eliminated, so has the entire Department. Given "mission decisions" to have programs that lead to jobs, there might be a sliver of logic that foreign language degrees don't lead to jobs, or maybe well-paying jobs. Set that aside, though, for the service that foreign languages have provided to liberal arts degrees for centuries. I didn't take Spanish, German and French throughout all my degree programs because I love foreign languages; these were recommendations for the well-rounded liberal arts degree.

Somewhere in the multitude of links provided through WVU, I saw that the President said that students would probably be able to pick up foreign languages through a Big 12 partner. Makes sense, given that we are sending our student athletes now to practically foreign countries (Utah?).

WVU coach: "While in Provo for the volleyball game, hit the testing center at our friendly Big 12 partner to take your French competency exam?"

Student Athlete: "'Testing Center? Qu'est-ce que c'est?"

It is a little horrifying to see such a core component of the bread and butter for most major universities--the liberal arts--being cut out. What's next, English? (English appears mostly unscathed, other than that pesky M.F.A in Creative Writing. I suspect for many administrators M.F. did not stand for Master in Fine.)

{A note from the Registrar: please realize that a C- grade may not transfer. It will depend upon your transfer institution.}

D Grade -- Appeals to these recommendations must be submitted within a week (August 18 deadline), for a potential hearing between August 21 and September 5. Given that Labor Day weekend is in there, that's a window of less than 10 business days to try and change the decision-makers' minds. Oh, and you get a 30-minute hearing. 

F Grade -- Final decisions come at a Board of Governor's vote on September 15, the day before the Pitt/WVU rivalry resumes in Morgantown. Note to Chair of the Board: this meeting better not mess with my tailgate.

NC (no credit) -- The College of Law had to go through the Program Review. In the end, no programs were cut, but they were still supposed to "adjust its workload policy, especially concerning faculty who are not research-productive," and that overall the "faculty positions must be reduced from its current number to 24." In unrelated news, WVU President E. Gordon Gee this week announced he is stepping down in 2025 "to return to the College of Law and start teaching again." Probably best not to make that move right in 23-24.

G Grade -- Late in the night, the Faculty Senate recommended a new grade on the university grading scale, as in "Gee, not only did you fail miserably but you took no accountability either."

Incomplete Grade -- Whether these recommendations will even do anything besides make the University look like it is run like a business.

There is probably an "audit" joke in there, but I am tired of sitting in this class. Someone else can go for it.