UW-Stevens Point is facing a $4.5 million structural deficit, mainly due to declining enrollment and state budget cuts.
The university is looking at making major cuts to programming and faculty, including the possibility of cutting tenured staff, according to a statement that Greg Summers, UW-Stevens Point provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs made to Wisconsin Public Radio.
Although a formal announcement about program and faculty cuts has not been made, an announcement is coming in the near future, according to UW-Stevens Point Media Relations Director Nick Schultz.
When the university first began exploring remedies to the deficit, Summers proposed cutting the school’s geography program. However, the announcement that UW System colleges would be merged with four-year universities was a game changer in the conversation about handling the deficit, according to Sean Piette, president of UW-Stevens Point’s Student Government Association.
According to Piette, students have been involved in conversations about restructuring, but have not yet been brought in on conversations about program cuts.
“There is an appropriate step for student government to come in,” Piette said. “At this point in the game I’m okay with that. I will no be okay with it if they implement anything without telling anybody or seeking an opinion.”
Piette said he speaks with Summers regularly about restructuring plans and does not expect the university to follow through on a proposal without student support.
With the looming cuts to programs, morale is low on campus, according to Piette. Students fear the cuts will impact their education and prospects of graduation.
“There are a lot of moving parts right now and it’s hard to keep track of them all,” Piette said. “People come here to learn … and that’s hard to do when you don’t have the professor teaching the class you need to graduate.”
