Amid UW-Stevens Point’s budget deficit, the fate of six of its humanities majors is uncertain — although UW System President Ray Cross doesn’t believe that’s the case.
He foresees that humanities will be saved from cuts at the university in an interview with WPR. Next week, the campus will reveal their final decisions in response to Gov. Evers’ state budget approval, which included more support to the UW System schools and a continuation of the tuition freeze.
He expressed concern about the impact of cutting these humanities programs, although closures happen regularly, “at no point in the history of this country have we ever needed the kind of education that liberal arts provides ... we need people who are critical thinkers, who understand logical fallacies.”
Cross also claimed that it was important to integrate humanities majors, such as history, into other programs. This contradicts Chancellor Bernie Patterson’s current proposal that would give the axe to the French, German, history, geology, geography and the two/three-dimensional art programs.
However, the current proposal for cutting the humanities programs is less than the original proposition by UW-Stevens Point in Spring 2018.
The original cut called for the elimination of 13 humanities majors, which triggered an intense protests from student and faculty at the Board of Regents office and on the UW-Madison campus, according to WPR.
Last fall, the cut was announced to have been reduced to only six majors. UW-Stevens Point Provost Greg Summers told WPR that the proposal was still a necessary step forward in “an effort to meet the changing needs of central Wisconsin.”
These cuts come at the same time as spending will increase for other more popular programs at the university centering around computer engineering and even adding another degree relating to aquaponics, otherwise known as fish farming.
“I want to thank faculty, staff, students, Provost Greg Summers and Chancellor Bernie Patterson who collaboratively developed this new vision for UW-Stevens Point,” Cross said when the UW-Stevens Point proposal to cut the six majors was announced. “Respecting Shared Governance, university leaders and the advisory committee listened to a broad range of campus and community voices, and crafted a plan through a deliberate, thoughtful process.
As the UW System attempts to stay viable in a changing economy, it is uncertain whether UW-Stevens Point’s humanities programs will become casualties.
UW-Stevens Point Faculty Senate Chairwoman Jennifer Collins, who is also a member of the Consultative Committee that restructure the majors, contradicted Cross, saying that the possibility of saving the majors is unlikely.
"It is probably likely that some majors will not be there," Collins said. "There may be even a combination of certain programs and this is happening even beyond the six programs."
Similar to Cross, the reluctance to let go of these majors is shared by UW-Stevens Point graduate and activist Cheyenne Antell, worried that students interested in pursuing humanities may not find the university as a viable option to pursue their major.
“I do not hear students or teachers talking about UWSP as a school for education,” Antell said. “Students pursuing humanities are likely to look somewhere else.”
