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Most clicked story of the week:
Colleges cutting vast numbers of their academic programs make headlines often, but are officials choosing the right metrics to assess their offerings? Our latest feature looks into the messy math of evaluating programs, and why some experts caution against cutting based solely on figures like enrollment.
Number of the week: 30
The number of days of written notice faculty at public colleges would receive before being terminated under a Kentucky bill aiming to make it easier to lay off instructors for broadly defined financial reasons, including when the programs or majors they teach have low enrollment. Lawmakers fully passed the measure on April 1 and sent it to Gov. Andy Beshear for signature.
More colleges plan cuts to academic programs:
- Syracuse University is cutting 93 academic offerings, a move the provost cast as right-sizing the private New York nonprofit’s offerings and aligning them with student demand. Programs span from certificates to graduate degrees and include fields such as statistics, architecture and Middle Eastern studies.
- Indiana’s public colleges plan to merge or consolidate about 580 academic programs that didn’t meet new state-mandated thresholds for how many graduates they produce each year. Another roughly 470 programs also didn’t meet the thresholds, but the state’s higher education commission approved continuing them as they work to build enrollment, align better with industry needs or provide important credentials to students.
- The University of New Orleans plans to eliminate or modify five undergraduate offerings and four graduate programs — the first sign of academic changes as the institution returns to the Louisiana State University System. The changes range from transitioning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics to a data science program to fully eliminating others, including undergraduate and graduate degrees in special education, according to NOLA.com.
The latest federal education news:
- Higher education groups and Democratic attorneys general are urging the General Services Administration to rescind a proposal that they say could be used to force colleges to comply with vague and contested federal guidance against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. GSA has proposed updating the certifications that colleges and others must attest to before they can receive federal funding.
- A federal judge dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit challenging Minnesota laws that allow some undocumented students to receive in-state tuition and state aid. The dismissal represents the first time a federal judge has ruled against the Justice Department in the Trump administration’s campaign to end such state policies.
- Colleges that belong to two associations — the Association of American Universities and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts — won’t have to turn in data about their applicants and admitted students broken down by race and sex until April 14, a federal judge ruled last week. The two groups are seeking to join a legal challenge brought by 17 Democratic attorneys general against the U.S. Department of Education’s new data collection.
