MU task force examining programs, looking at possible cuts

A task force at the University of Missouri is working to examine every academic program and will ultimately make recommendations to the provost’s office on which programs could possibly be cut.

The Task Force on Academic Program Analysis, Enhancement and Opportunities was formed in June 2017. It’s comprised of 15 faculty members, along with co-chairs Dr. Cooper Drury, Associate Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Matthew Martins, Faculty Fellow of Academic Programs.

Currently, the task force is working on an analysis strategy that will be used to evaluate programs. They have three main objectives: look for programs that need to be invested in, identify programs that could be consolidated or combined and identify which programs the university can no longer support.

“Often what happens I think at any institution, but especially at universities, is that you get programs that have been around for a really long time and they maybe made a lot of sense 30 years ago but maybe they don’t make sense now. And that doesn’t mean that they should be cut–but maybe they don’t make sense in their current configuration,” Dr. Drury said in an interview with ABC 17 News.

After the task force develops an analysis strategy, members will look to the university community for feedback.

“We won’t be making any recommendations in this first report that we’re working on right now. It purely is the ‘this is how we’re going to evaluate programs,’ and then we’ll go out to the campus and talk about that. There will be an opportunity for stakeholders around the campus to say ‘wait a minute you forgot about this–or we feel this item on the list is the most important.’ Then, we will start going back and doing the evaluation,” Dr. Drury said.

“I think the most important thing that we’re going to have to do as a group is to actively engage with the campus. The full campus community,” Dr. Martens added. “The real work I think of this group is getting out, getting feedback and ideas from faculty, staff, from students from alumni from leaders on campus. So, whatever recommendations this group ends up with, it’s almost a certainty that there are folks on campus who will not be pleased with some of this. That’s just a natural part of this process. But it’s really important for us to make sure that we can say that everybody had an opportunity to provide input and ideas.”

Students were happy to learn that their opinions will be heard.

“That’s something I would really appreciate because if we’re going to be on the receiving end of these budget cuts then we need to be able to say, ‘this is going to affect our program in this way or maybe this is something that we can modify and make work a little better.’ If the funds have to be cut then maybe we can streamline the process a little more,” Mary Hales, a graduate student in the fine arts division, said.

The co-chairs also acknowledged that there will likely be backlash, but they hope to minimize it by being as transparent as possible.

“My hope is that when people understand the process that we’re following and how much input we’re trying to get, the backlash will be mitigated at least,” Dr. Drury said.

“Any time that we talk about a recommendation to inactivate a program or change a program, that affects a lot of people who’ve put in a lot of hard work over the years,” Dr. Martens said, adding, “But that doesn’t mean it’s not a decision that needs to be made”

The task force is planning to gather feedback throughout the fall semester. Their final report is due to the provost on January 15.

University leaders say they will begin making decisions on program investments, consolidation and cuts in the spring.