WVU cuts come into focus as no-confidence vote for President E. Gordon Gee is set for Wednesday

An expected decision by West Virginia University’s governing board on which academic programs to cut has come into sharper focus as a potential vote of no-confidence in president E. Gordon Gee looms Wednesday.

The preliminary recommendations from WVU administrators involving two dozen academic departments were made public Aug. 11. They drew national attention and on-campus protests over their potential impact on the state’s flagship public university — even before those recommendations entered the appeals process.

That three-week process concluded Tuesday.

Meanwhile, twin votes of no-confidence in Gee and to freeze the program review process are on the agenda for Wednesday as the University Assembly meets at noon on the Morgantown campus. A quorum of 25%, or 700 faculty, is required for the votes to go forward, said Corey Hunt, the Senate’s office administrator.

Based on the appeals decisions, here is what will be presented to the Board of Governors on Sept. 14-15 as final recommendations in several areas that drew sizable interest beyond campus:

• Math. Doctoral and master’s degree programs in mathematics would be eliminated under a final recommendation to WVU’s board, as the department did not appeal a preliminary recommendation to discontinue the programs. An applied mathematics/data sciences degree at the doctoral level might be created.

• English. Fiction, nonfiction and poetry will continue to be taught as the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, under a merger of programs.

• Language. In-person language instruction will continue, but only in Spanish and Chinese, with most other international language courses eliminated and the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics merged into an as-yet unspecified academic unit.

• Theatre. WVU’s puppetry program, among two in the nation, would be merged into a cooperative theater offering as it did not appeal a preliminary recommendation to do so.

WVU, facing a $45 million budget deficit, initially proposed eliminating 32 of 338 academic majors and cutting faculty by 7%, or 169 positions, on the Morgantown campus. However, through appeals, those numbers have been whittled.

Gee said the reductions are painful, but necessary, to repair the school’s finances amid a sharp enrollment downturn on his campus and nationally.

He said the challenges that WVU faces come as national polls suggest confidence in higher education has fallen.

“You know, fewer than 36% of the American public now believe in higher education. That is devastating. If we were running a car company, and only 36% of the people thought the cars were important, we would be in the ditch,” Gee, 79, told the Tribune-Review last week.

“Like other universities, he said, WVU has “limited resources and we have infinite appetite.”

But critics on campus and beyond have said Gee’s incorrect projections that enrollment would grow to 40,000 students, despite the pandemic, undermined university decision-making and finances. They say faculty, staff and students are now paying the price.

“I can tell you that no other state flagship university has forsaken language education for its students or made the kinds of cuts to the humanities that WVU is undertaking,” the New York City-based Modern Language Association and its executive director, Paula Krebs, said in a letter to Gee.

Here is a sampling of the appeals decisions:

Department of English

“Future graduate students will continue to hone their skills in fiction, nonfiction and poetry as part of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program,” WVU wrote.

Even with continuing declines in undergraduate student enrollment, decreased student credit hour production and a low student-to-faculty ratio, the university wrote, “the (appeals) committee recognized the unit’s need for sufficient faculty to teach service courses and (its) plans to become more efficient in the delivery of its instruction.”

Officials said the academic unit presented a plan to merge the M.A. in English with the M.A. in Professional Writing. That also figured in the committee’s Aug. 30 decision.

School of Music

A preliminary recommendation to discontinue the bachelor’s in Music Performance: Jazz and Commercial Music was approved, but the provost’s office endorses the goal of a new degree in commercial music at the undergraduate level.

School of Education

The school lost its appeals regarding recommendations to discontinue the master’s program in Higher Education Administration and doctoral program in Higher Education programs.

The school also agreed to a recommendation to revise the bachelor’s program in Elementary Education that includes participating by fall 2024 in what WVU called “the Ohio Reciprocity and an Expanded State Strategy.”.

“This is an opportunity to reinvent how West Virginia University supports K-12 education and the development of future educators in the state and region,” Provost Maryanne Reed said.

Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

The unit in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources did not appeal a preliminary recommendation to explore developing a cooperative doctoral program within a newly created program.

Separate from the review, a $4 million gift from Antero Midstream offers support for undergraduate and graduate students in petroleum and natural gas engineering as well as some graduate students.

School of Theatre and Dance

Within the College of Creative Arts, the committee approved the School of Theatre and Dance’s appeal to keep the M.F.A. in Acting program that had previously been recommended for elimination. The committee found “it is central to all school operations and both undergraduate and graduate programs,” officials said.

Several preliminary recommendations were not appealed, including one for the B.F.A. in Puppetry to develop a cooperative program.

School of Art and Design

The School of Art and Design will continue to offer a B.A. in Art History, but it will change its name and curriculum by January “to reflect a new focus on both art history and museum studies and professions,” WVU officials said.

College of Law

“Recognizing its singular role in the state, while acknowledging a significant annual operating deficit,” the final recommendation would lead to “a revision of curriculum that eliminates inefficient and unnecessary program requirements,” the university said.