Dive Temporary:
- Columbia Faculty Chicago is ready to chop 11 levels — 4 undergraduate and 7 graduate — as a part of a finalized plan to revamp program choices and plug price range holes.
- One other 9 packages will mix current levels or new concentrations, which is able to outcome ultimately of seven standalone levels, in response to a message Monday from Columbia Interim President Jerry Tarrer.
- The non-public nonprofit arts school expects to get rid of as much as 25 college positions by way of the restructuring. “I acknowledge these selections are painful,” Tarrer mentioned. “Nonetheless, these actions are additionally mandatory for the long-term success of our cherished school.”
Dive Perception:
Columbia has been bracing for program cuts since September when the provost’s workplace advisable eliminating 10 packages and consolidating many extra.
Earlier than that, Columbia’s earlier president, Kwang-Wu Kim, warned that falling enrollment and projected deficits posed an “existential risk” to the establishment. The previous president mentioned this spring that enrollment had fallen 36% since 2013 and deficits would prime $30 million yearly in future years if Columbia didn’t take motion. As of fall 2024, the school had 5,450 college students.
Tarrer and Provost Marcella David defined the broader drawback in a September message. “The variety of packages we provide in our program array displays a time after we had many extra college students,” they mentioned.
The pair famous then {that a} majority of Columbia’s packages enrolled fewer than 50 college students and value extra to ship than they collected in tuition.
“This isn’t a sustainable academic mannequin, and it doesn’t allow innovation: our efforts to proceed to fund our present array of 58 undergraduate packages has stretched us skinny,” Tarrer and David wrote.
By way of this system cuts, Columbia expects to fulfill a objective to save lots of $3.4 million in college wage bills over two years. To get to that objective, school officers are additionally planning on a spherical of voluntary buyouts this spring.
These packages to be eradicated are:
- Environmental and sustainability research bachelor’s.
- American Signal Language bachelor’s.
- Cultural research bachelor’s.
- Artwork historical past bachelor’s.
- Artistic writing superb arts grasp’s.
- Consumer expertise and interplay design grasp’s.
- Cinema and tv producing superb arts grasp’s.
- Appearing and modern efficiency grasp’s.
- Appearing and modern efficiency superb arts grasp’s.
- Effective arts grasp’s.
- Pictures superb arts grasp’s.
College students enrolled in packages being eradicated will be capable to end their levels as deliberate, the school mentioned. The packages will cease taking new college students in fall 2025.
It’s not all cuts at Columbia. The faculty additionally plans to launch a brand new magnificence administration program and is exploring new choices in movie and tv manufacturing, textile design, skilled writing and industrial design.
Tarrer mentioned Monday that Columbia’s objective is to “maintain our school aggressive in an more and more difficult increased training panorama and place our college students to be ever-more aggressive of their skilled endeavors.”