ST. GEORGE, Utah — Utah Tech University is the latest among schools in Utah to cut programs under legislative-mandated budget cuts for public higher education.
Campus leaders presented a tentative proposal to cut Spanish, American Sign Language majors, the dramatic theatre program, and others last week.
Last month, Cox signed the Higher Education Strategic Reinvestment Act, cutting $60.5 million across the board from institution budgets, with the demand under HB265 that they reduce majors or programs that have few graduates and lead to lower-paying jobs.
A university can get its share of its cut back only if it proves it’s reinvested in high-wage jobs that the state needs.
Utah Tech College of Humanities and Social Sciences Associate Dean Robert Carlson was concerned about the rapid timeline for these changes.
"When people are making decisions about curriculum who aren't experts in the curriculum, sometimes that influence doesn't mesh well with what we're trying to do to help our students be prepared for their future," said Carlson. "And then we had this fairly quick deadline to try to make these changes and these are substantive changes, so doing them quickly is very difficult."
"Sometimes the suggestions that were made at the state level seemed to reflect a very outdated view of what is done at the college level," said Carlson.
Utah Tech Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Michael Lacourse acknowledges that their position within the state means complying to the needs of the voters to the best of their ability.
"Well, we are a public university. And we are responsive to the people, the citizens of the state, and elected officials," said Lacourse. "Of the total amount of money that we're reallocating, $2.55 million, only $200,000 of it is really attached to faculty positions. Actually, it's a little bit less than that. $900,000 was for software we’re eliminating."
As for the future of Utah Tech, opinions vary among campus stakeholders.
"I think it's going to strengthen the university," said Lacourse. “We're not going to strengthen the university by eliminating positions. That's not the strengthening piece. The strengthening piece is that I believe we will become more efficient.”
"I'm trying to be optimistic. I'm trying to be optimistic," said Savage.
"We hope it makes things better. I don't know that we're confident yet that that will happen," said Carlson.
