The Academic Planning Council will finalize its recommendation to the NIU administration regarding program cuts at today’s meeting.

NIU has enlisted the APC’s assistance to review and formulate a recommendation on those programs targeted for consolidation or elimination by the Illinois Board of Higher Education in addition to programs red-tagged by NIU’s own 1992 productivity report.

The APC’s tentative recommendations put NIU’s College of Law and the doctoral program in psychology as top priority to NIU’s academic mission.

Programs the APC considers low priority to NIU include the master of science program in business education and school business management. The master of arts degree in journalism also is listed as being a low-priority program.

Six NIU programs, including the M.A. degrees in Russian, German and French, and the doctoral degrees in geology and economics, were given moderate priority by the APC.

The only programs the APC has recommended for elimination or consolidation, to this point, have been approved by the programs’ own departments and include the bachelor of science educational degree in technology and the educational doctorate in technology.

During the APC’s last meeting, Provost J. Carroll Moody said, “We agree that this is not final. There’s nothing to keep someone from looking at those programs on the top (of high priority to NIU).”

In his address to the University Council last Wednesday, NIU President John La Tourette explained how he thought the process would turn out.

“I would think what we will end up with,” he said, “is lists saying ‘here are some actions which we are in the process of taking or planning to take, here are some actions we are willing to take, here are some actions we will continue to look at’ and ‘here are some things we won’t be willing to do.'”

The recommendation will wrap up the first phase in a process begun by NIU to react to the Priorities, Quality, and Productivity initiative begun last year by the IBHE. The PQP initiative cited 190 academic programs statewide for either consolidation or elimination, including 15 programs at NIU.