Academic programs face cuts

By Brian Slupski

NIU President John La Tourette and Board of Regents members reacted negatively Wednesday to possible cuts to higher education.

The cuts could happen as a result of the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s Priority, Quality and Productivity guidelines

The guidelines use quantitative measures to judge academic programs. Programs whose numbers fall below the state averages could be cut.

La Tourette called the guidelines “generic” and said “they raise questions and issues instead of solutions. There are no automatic answers,” he said.

“If misused, a person could justify the elimination of every program in the state,” La Tourette said.

Regents Chairman D. Brewster Parker said he thinks the guidelines will be and have been used for answers.

“I’m afraid the guidelines will place the (burden) on the universities. They will have to defend and justify their programs to the IBHE,” he said.

“I think the IBHE wants to make higher education lean and mean. It will be difficult to make it lean, but it will make it mean,” Parker said.

La Tourette said the guidelines don’t measure the service of a program to the community or the nature of the students in the program.

La Tourette said if a program is primarily made up of part-time working students, those students might not be able to attend another school if their program is cut.

He said the elimination of academic programs would result in “marginal savings” because 78 percent of program cost is personnel.

“You can get rid of the program, but you still have the personnel,” La Tourette said.

The president said “big savings” could result from three areas—intercollegiate athletics, departmental administration and faculty workload.

However, even with “big savings,” programs still will be eliminated. “There are probably some programs which should be eliminated anyway,” La Tourette said.

Regents Assistant to the Chancellor Cheryl Peck said the cuts will be deeper and more extensive than ever before.

She said the board is taking the process “very seriously” given the state’s poor economic condition.

“If the IBHE feels a program is not economically feasible and recommends it be cut, the Regents would take that recommendation very seriously,” Peck said.

The IBHE can recommend cuts, but only the board can eliminate a program from NIU.