Nearly 60 UNI program cuts approved by Iowa regents

The state Board of Regents Wednesday approved nearly 60 academic program cuts at the University of Northern Iowa.

The board approved the UNI cuts by a unanimous vote during a meeting in Iowa City. A board committee had recommended the proposed cuts for approval earlier in the day.

The programs on the list are smaller programs with lower graduation rates, UNI officials said. Closing the programs are part of budget cuts at the university.

There still is no financial estimate for the savings that would result from the cuts, UNI officials said, mostly because it's still unknown how many faculty might take part in a buy-out program. the university remains committed to strong academic programs and helping students find other options in their areas of interest, UNI Provost Gloria Gibson said.

“I certainly don't think cutting these will be detrimental to the university,” Gibson told the committee members.

Regents asked about the size of the programs being cut, the reasoning behind the cuts and if other non-academic areas on campus had also faced budget cuts. The board discussed the UNI proposal for about 20 minutes.

When Regent David Miles asked about the numerous emails he had received asking the board to extend the time period for discussion of the cuts, UNI President Ben Allen said he didn't know what purpose that would serve, noting the process UNI used was "quite thorough."

"I'm not sure we gain much more by having more discussion," Allen said.

UNI officials feel they did their due diligence in making the recommendations and that programs across campus were considered, Gibson said. She noted that faculty do not agree with some of the cuts and many feel that other non-academic areas should have been cut more, such as athletics.

“I feel that we have given due diligence to this process,” she said. “That is not the feeling of many across campus. You're never going to get 100 percent agreement.”

After receiving many calls and emails, UNI officials did remove the physics BS program from the list to be cut, Gibson said. The physics BA program was added to the cuts list, and the physics BS was shifted to the “restructure” list, she said.

Gibson said those changes leading up to the regents meeting show that UNI officials were responsive to faculty and student concerns, that they were listening.

UNI officials say the recommended program closures and suspensions are required to allow the university to address budget challenges, both immediate and long-term, and to focus resources on strategic and high-demand programs.

Gibson said she had no estimate for financial savings from the cuts as of Wednesday, but she said in the first year the savings would help cover an $800,000 shortfall. After that, the savings would go toward other academic programs, she said.

The cuts include 22 undergraduate programs, 20 minors and 16 graduate programs. The regents also will consider suspension of admission to eight undergraduate and graduate programs.

Part of the reason financial savings are still unknown, officials said, is because affected tenured faculty members have about another month to decide about participating in a buy-out incentive program.