The day after Columbia unveiled a sweeping, historic overhaul of its academic programs, faculty and students reacted to the changes with a mix of frustration and concerns over the future of the college.

The Board of Trustees voted on Monday, Dec. 16 to accept the recommendations of Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David to cut the college’s degree offerings nearly in half, from 58 to 33 undergraduate programs. Columbia also eliminated seven, or half, of its graduate programs, including the cinema and television directing MFA and the photography MFA.

In the college’s words, the move aims to “bolster the institution’s competitive edge” at a time when Columbia, like many others dependent on tuition, is losing students and not bringing in enough revenue. Enrollment has dropped significantly over the last decade, from 9,671 students in 2014 to 5,570 students this fall, according to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.

Columbia already has cut administrative costs, primarily through staff layoffs and increased class sizes, as the Chronicle previously reported.

The college currently has a $17 million financial deficit, which is down from $38 million at the start of the year. Interim President and CEO Jerry Tarrer told the Chronicle after the board meeting that the program reorganization would save the college $5 million over two years. He also said he expected the college to break even by then.

But the realignment comes with significant challenges for faculty. The restructuring is expected to result in the elimination of up to 25 full-time faculty positions. While students in affected programs will be able to complete their degrees without disruption, the impending faculty cuts have raised concerns. 

The executive committee of the Faculty Senate has called an emergency meeting for Friday, Dec. 20, the day grades are due.

The college said the cuts will target tenured faculty and those with teaching-track contracts. Tenure-track faculty, meaning assistant professors who have tenure appointments but have not yet earned tenure, will not be impacted. Teaching-track faculty have the titles of assistant, associate or professors of instruction and generally teach four courses per semester. They do not have the same scholarly or service requirements as faculty with tenure appointments.  

The college had 233 full-time faculty as of this fall, a number that includes tenure appointments and teaching-track. 

Michael Caplan, president of Columbia’s AAUP advocacy chapter, expressed concerns over the lack of faculty input in the program redesign, increased workload and the rushed nature of the process. Caplan, who is also a professor in the School of Film and Television, called the decision “cruel” for faculty members whose work has been instrumental in shaping the new structure.

“It now appears that some of the faculty have been used to create a new structure that will now result in their own termination, which is a particularly cruel tactic for the administration,” said Caplan. 

AAUP will meet again in February.

In an email to the college, Tarrer emphasized the long-term benefits of the changes. “These actions are necessary for the long-term success of our cherished college,” he wrote in his message to the Columbia community. 

He expressed confidence that the revised program offerings would better serve the diverse student body, positioning them for success in creative careers.

The programs the college said will be eliminated entirely are:

• environmental and sustainability studies;

• ASL-English interpretation;
• cultural studies;
• art history.

For 2024, environment studies had nine students, ASL-English interpretation had 62, cultural studies had 11 and art history had 31.

In a town hall with faculty on Sept. 11, David said ASL-English interpretation and art history were both costly to offer, with the college losing $10,001 to $20,001 annually per student on the cost of instruction.

The college characterized the elimination of several other majors as “regrouping,” but they will also be eliminated when they become minors or are absorbed by other programs. 

In the School of Communication and Culture, the journalism and communication majors will be combined. The photojournalism and radio majors will become minors. In 2024, photojournalism had 24 students and radio had 28.

Ames Hawkins, interim director of the School of Communication and Culture, said the focus has always been preparing students for creative careers. 

“These changes allow us to double down on the creative careers most desired by our students and provide students the ability to pair important skill sets with a foundational and flexible 21st century education,” Hawkins said.

Tom Dowd, interim director for the School of Design, said that for existing students, there won’t be any significant changes and that enrolled students will still continue to follow their degree paths.

“Come spring, we’re going to hold town halls and information sessions to answer questions,” Dowd said. “We’ll give them information and guidance if they want to consider switching to one of the new program configurations.”

In other changes in programs, the School of Film and Television will have a film and television BA with concentrations in writing and producing, film production and editing and post-sound. It also will have a film and television BFA with concentrations in directing and cinematography. 

A BFA is designed for students who want to pursue a career in the arts and typically include more studio or stage courses. 

Eric Scholl, interim co-director of the School of Film and Television, said that discontinuation of the MFA in cinema and television producing is something that effectively happened a few years ago due to low enrollment. 

“We were waiting to officially discontinue it since there were still some students who needed to finish,” Scholl said. “We still have a very robust MFA in directing, and we are looking into creating a new MFA in screenwriting in the next couple of years, which we think will be very successful.”

The School of Theatre and Dance will have a BA and BFA in acting for stage and screen and a BA and BFA for comedy writing and performance. There also will be a musical theatre BA and BFA. 

What students are saying:

Junior ASL-English interpretation major Anya Tapley said that although she is thankful to be able to finish her degree, the decision will majorly impact the local Deaf community.

“The impact of removing one of 15 accredited programs in the nation will be seen and felt with the Deaf community being the ones to suffer,” Tapley said. “In a few years, it won’t exist. I won’t be able to come back to my alma mater with pride like others.” 

Elani Woods, a senior marketing student, said that she isn’t entirely sure how these changes will affect her major and minor degrees. “I feel like this doesn’t affect me as much,” she said. “This is my last year so I don’t really care about the changes.”

Sophomore and art history major Sophia Brown said they no longer feel good about pursuing their major and that the changes solidified their decision to transfer following spring semester. 

“They have announced that they will be cutting art history, my major,” said Brown. “This means that I will have less classes to choose from, and ultimately the program will become smaller and smaller.”

Lindy Girman, a theatre major who graduated this semester, said that she understands why the college made these decisions. 

“The reality of our national situation in higher education is that small liberal arts colleges are closing their doors permanently everywhere due to financial hardship,” said Girman. “While change is difficult, I think it’s important to make decisions with the long term sustainability of the college in mind.”

Alfred Youhana, sophomore computer animation major who is transferring to School of the Art Institute in the spring, said that though the changes to his program don’t directly affect him he doesn’t see Columbia’s future matching its current state, as they continue cutting and merging programs.

“Especially since computer animation is what the industry is going to be moving towards,” said Youhana. 

In his time at Columbia, Youhana found the classes he needed for his major hard to get into, and at times difficult, given his long commute from Skokie. Shocked to receive the email, he said merging the program is not helping the problem.

The college is also launching a new animation and computer graphics degree with game design, animation, computer animation and traditional animation concentrations. The existing computer animation and traditional animation BFA will no longer be offered, and instead that content will instead be integrated into the new degree. 

“So many 2D departments have shut down in so many different companies, so it makes no sense to have the traditional department going,” said Youhana. “It’s already such a struggle for people to get into an animation class and now you’re grouping it with other things; it’s just not going to work.”

Petey Holman-Hebert, a sophomore illustration major, said they were disappointed and left with more questions than answers after reading the college-wide email on Monday. 

“They mentioned that a lot of people worked on this decision and talked about it,” said Holman-Hebert. “My question is, did they talk to any students at all; were they communicating with anyone who this is actually affecting and got their input before making this decision?” 

Additional reporting from Patience Hurston, Araceli Ramirez, Maya Liquigan, Sofia Oyarzún, Emma Jolly  and Kate Julianne Larroder

Copy edited by Manuel Nocera