Is West Virginia University's gutting of liberal arts a sign of more to come?

The school has proposed doing away with many of its liberal arts programs to address a $45 million budget deficit

West Virginia University logo on a blue background.
The university is looking to cut three dozen undergraduate and graduate programs to address budgetary issues
(Image credit: Frank Jansky / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

West Virginia University officials recently proposed sweeping cuts at its flagship Morgantown campus, startling faculty members and students alike. The "financially beleaguered" state-funded public university proposed eliminating 169 faculty positions and dropping nearly three dozen undergraduate and graduate programs, per Inside Higher Ed. This includes "the entirety of the department of world languages, literatures and linguistics," as well as the mathematics graduate program. The proposal came after WVU reviewed about half of its academic programs as part of an attempt to correct an estimated $45 million budget deficit.

"We are going through an existential crisis in higher education," E. Gordon Gee, WVU's president, told The Washington Post in an interview, "and we happen to be on the point of the spear." Gee said the cuts were necessary to free up resources for higher-demand programs, such as forensics, engineering and neuroscience. As public confidence in higher education wanes, universities must regain that trust, he claimed. "The people of the state are telling us what they want," he added. "And for once, we're listening to them."

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Theara Coleman, The Week US

Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.