BUZZ
UPDATED
University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials moved forward with plans to eliminate and merge some degrees. However, the public university continues to offer its worst performing degree.
“The Board of Regents approved UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett’s proposal as is to axe Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1,” The Daily Nebraskan reported.
“Additionally, the Board of Regents approved merging the Department of Entomology with plant pathology, while agricultural economics will consolidate with agricultural leadership, education and communication,” the student newspaper reported. “The university said all current degrees offered will continue under the proposed consolidated departments.”
The statistics department has criticized the data used behind the cuts, as previously reported by The College Fix.
Meanwhile, the university is keeping its doctoral program in musical composition, which is both its lowest-performing degree and also caused national controversy.
Last spring, a homosexual graduate student performed a drag show “Mass” as part of his doctoral thesis.
The performance led to a rebuke from Catholic Bishop James Conley and other criticism from Catholic leaders. The university promised to create a special advisory council to address similar controversies in the future, but the school has not publicly released any further info.
The decision to keep the degree, which has an estimated return on investment of nearly -$800,000 is “unusual,” higher education economist Preston Cooper previously told The Fix.
“Often PhD programs are first to go as they have lower enrollments and are often money-losers for the university,” Preston Cooper told The Fix via email in October. He previously worked at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, which has a database of the value of college degrees.
“But idiosyncratic factors may play a role–an influential faculty member who fights to keep the PhD program, for instance,” the American Enterprise Institute senior fellow said.
“There are fixed costs to operating the program: you have to employ tenured faculty, and there’s the cost of building space and supplies. These costs may not go down as the number of students falls,” Cooper said. “Past a certain point, the program may lose so much money that it simply doesn’t make financial sense for the school to continue offering.”
Editor’s note: The headline has been updated.
