Faculty voiced its opinion last week on a state-wide procedure which will eliminate academic programs.

NIU faculty reacted to the Illinois Board of Higher Education Priority, Quality and Productivity initiative at last Wednesday’s Faculty Senate meeting. PQP evaluates all state university academic programs based on statistical guidelines and proposes to eliminate weak programs.

“They (IBHE) are measuring the capacity of all programs in the state and they are saying there is not a societal need for many of them,” said Acting Provost J. Carroll Moody.

The deadlines for the PQP initiative have caused concern among some faculty. “It doesn’t sound like NIU can succeed against the juggernaut that is underway,” said Lawrence Finkelstein, professor of physical science. “It’s bullheaded determination in the IBHE.”

The IBHE has set a deadline of Oct. 1 for universities to finish their recommendations on what programs to eliminate. The IBHE staff will compare notes and then make recommendations to the board at its Oct. 6 meeting.

Finkelstein said it seems the entire scenario is a political process.

Other faculty agreed. “Legislators don’t care about programs; money they know,” said Bob Lane, professor of Operations, Management and Information Systems. “If you can carve a couple of million dollars around here it will make them go away.”

However, critics have labeled reallocation processes as smoke-and-mirrors tactics.

“It points out how powerless faculty and faculty members have become,” said philosophy Professor Sherman Stanage.

“Can we turn to outside agencies to stop what seems to be a predestined political outcome?” Finkelstein said. “We have professional societies; we have to draw them in and let them know it will be a real bloody mess.”

“We might not match up with what society wants, so we had better make the case because it is not going to get better in the next ten years,” Lane said.

Moody, however, did not advocate making a strong protest against the IBHE. “It would be a mistake for the faculty to rise up. There are negotiations going on with the IBHE,” he said. “Like it or not, as unfair as it is, we’re not in the best positions. “There are some things that can be done, and things we can do without.”

Moody also stressed that the emphasis of the IBHE seems to be on graduate education. A Sept. 3 IBHE document contained recommendations on potential areas of elimination and graduate programs were mentioned frequently.