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#661646
WSET wrote:University of Lynchburg cuts 17 programs, eliminates 40 staff member positions

by ROBERT LOCKLEAR | WSET
Thu, May 30th 2024 at 11:40 AM
Updated Thu, May 30th 2024 at 7:35 PM


LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — The University of Lynchburg announced Thursday they are taking dramatic steps at the school as they enter a new era.

But for some prospective students and current staff, those changes could be detrimental; 17 programs at the school are being cut, and 40 staff members' positions have been "reduced." Over the next three years, the school said another 40 faculty will be headed out the door for good as well.
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#661651
Higher education is reaching an inflection point. This could have been Liberty's predicament if not for distance education. The number of Christian colleges in particular either folding or on the verge of doing so is significant.
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#661652
Sly Fox wrote: May 31st, 2024, 1:11 pm Higher education is reaching an inflection point. This could have been Liberty's predicament if not for distance education. The number of Christian colleges in particular either folding or on the verge of doing so is significant.
I know my Alma mater is struggling.
#661778
With so little people enrolled in those degree programs, it was essentially a waste of money.

But how they handled the staff layoffs was deplorable. Announce a campus-wide staff meeting, tell the people in the meeting that the ones being laid off have until the end of the day to collect their belongings and turn in their keys/ID, then read off the names of everyone being laid off AT THE MEETING.

This a week after they had staff appreciation day and was posting all over their socials that they love all their staff. Who needs enemies when you have people who love you like that?
#661779
I do find it odd that one of the restructuring things they are doing is putting together a solutions center that's basically a glorified customer service and help desk center for a wide range of things with some that aren't remotely related like academic records, financial aid, billing, housing, HR benefits, ID services, IT help desk, parking, etc. And they will be cross-training everyone in the solutions center to triage on everything.

I know some of these people that are getting thrown into the solutions center. They are amongst the last people on campus you would want to talk to about some of the things they'll have to cross train on. Like these are the type of people who would call IT to say their computer isn't working when it turns out their monitor isn't turned on.

Or imagine getting on the phone with someone that comes from security who normally handles stuff with parking and IDs and has never gone to college and needing to ask them questions about financial aid.
#661893
As part of the larger theme of religious studies programs getting cut and historically religious colleges and universities having issues (Birmingham-Southern College just closed), UNC-Asheville is cutting its religious studies department amid downsizing as well: https://www.wunc.org/education/2024-06- ... chancellor
#662342
ATrain wrote: June 17th, 2024, 12:43 pm As part of the larger theme of religious studies programs getting cut and historically religious colleges and universities having issues (Birmingham-Southern College just closed), UNC-Asheville is cutting its religious studies department amid downsizing as well: https://www.wunc.org/education/2024-06- ... chancellor
Will be interesting to see decades down the line if the state of higher education ever turns around if some of these programs that are getting frequently cut nationally - say like anything in the arts, for example - will ever get added back. We'll all surely be dead by then merely due to demographics and nothing else though. It's a lot easier to justify these more aspirational programs that have benefits that can't be be clearly quantified in dollars and cents when things are going well financially.

It's like going to a restaurant and choosing rather to get desert or not. Sure it makes you happy, but there's zero nutritional value to it, it's generally expensive, and as far as keeping you satiated it's not going to get the job done, so the only way to quantify it's benefit is in a subjective measure of happiness. If things are going well for you financially, you might spring for it and never think twice about it.

But when times are tough? Only time you'd even possibly consider it is a special occasion, if even then.
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