The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is set to eliminate bachelor’s degrees in ethnic studies and insect science after system regents voted to approve the cuts.
In requesting the deletions, UNL leaders cited low enrollment and graduate numbers that fell short of state requirements.
The cuts follow the tumultuous eliminations of academic programs at UNL last year as part of a budget-saving effort.
Program Cuts Across the University System
The regents also approved several other program cuts throughout the University of Nebraska System, including the elimination of two graduate-level programs at its Kearney campus and three at the Omaha campus.
University officials shared enrollment figures that fell from a high of 20 students in the ethnic studies major during the 2020-21 academic year to nine students in two of the past three years.
Reasons Behind the Cuts
UNL Executive Vice Chancellor Mark Button wrote that interest from prospective students and enrollment has shifted to the minors in lieu of the major over the last several years.
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Patrick Dussault, interim dean of UNL’s arts and sciences college, stated that the ethnic studies major could not meet graduation thresholds set by the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education.
The commission requires programs to have a five-year average of seven degrees awarded annually, according to meeting documents.
The elimination came over pushback from some audience members at Thursday’s system board meeting concerned about the impact of the cuts.
Helen Moore, a retired long-time UNL faculty member, said at the meeting, “Removing ethnic studies as a major because of an arbitrary baseline number of majors strips away a meaningful opportunity that connects scholarship across disciplines and across multiple colleges.”
Impact on Students and Faculty
UNL’s insect science program has also fallen short of the commission’s requirements — in this case, for roughly a decade — prompting officials to eliminate it.
Administrators said students will have the option to take the same classes as part of an entomology option under UNL’s integrated science bachelor’s.
Similarly, UNK sought regents’ approval for eliminating two master’s programs — long-term care management and physical education and exercise science — because they fell short of graduate thresholds.
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UNO moved to axe master’s degrees in urban studies and industrial and organizational psychology on the same grounds.
It also requested to cut a graduate certificate in business analytics due partly to low enrollment.
However, UNO also plans to add new programs after receiving regents’ approval Thursday, including a bachelor’s in statistics and operations research, a master’s in early childhood education, and a certificate in financial planning — all intended to meet workforce demand.
NU’s medical center is also poised to cut two graduate-level certificate programs after regents’ approval.
UNL’s newest academic cuts come on top of four program eliminations that administrators pursued last year over faculty protests.
Those bruising moves were part of a broader effort to slash $27.5 million from the university’s budget.
