(The Center Square) – Springfield, Ohio’s Wittenberg University is cutting five majors and over 60 positions in order to balance its budget.
East Asian studies, German, music, music education, and Spanish are all “slated for elimination at the end of the 2024-25 academic year,” as well as a minor in Chinese, Wittenberg stated, while around 40 Wittenberg members will lose their jobs all in an effort to balance the university’s budget.
Wittenberg’s cuts were announced in a letter to students and staff in addition to the announcement that 24 faculty positions, 45 staff positions, the men’s and women’s tennis teams and the women’s bowling team would be eliminated, according to Springfield News-Sun.
Additionally, international business and international studies “are not currently allowing declarations,” as Wittenberg is “re-evaluating” both programs.
Because “some current employees will be assigned to open positions, and some open positions will not be filled,” around 40 Wittenberg members will lose their jobs rather than over 60, Springfield News-Sun reported.
“Wittenberg posted a $13.7 million total operating deficit for the fiscal year ending June 2023,” which is over double the previous year’s loss, Higher Ed Dive reported.
Additionally, the school “carries $38.2 million in debt stemming from bonds issued in 2016” and has seen tuition revenue drop while total operating expenses increased, according to HED. Thus, the school deemed its cuts to be “necessary to eliminate Wittenberg’s estimated operating losses by fiscal 2027.”
Wittenberg President Michael Frandsen said the university will provide a way for those whose declared majors will be terminated to finish, such as through a “partner institution,” according to Springfield News-Sun. This provision is expected to be finalized before Fall Break, Frandsen said.
Located in Springfield, Ohio, Wittenberg announced it would be going remote from Sept. 16 to 22 on account of several violent threats made to the university.
“Given what is happening in Springfield right now, the loss of world languages and other faculty with expertise in cross-cultural communication feels particularly short-sighted,” professor Lori Askeland of Wittenberg told The Center Square.
Ohio State Troopers began providing security at Springfield schools this week after a week of false allegations leveled against Haiti refugees who arrive in the city and nearly 40 bomb threats, The Center Square reported.
Askeland is an English professor at Wittenberg, as well as the president of the school’s American Association of University Professors (AAUP) advocacy chapter.
Askeland told The Center Square that “the standards by which individual line cuts were made in particular does not match the standards that the administration indicated they would use when we met in late August.” However, it is unclear what standards were used versus what standards were indicated, because Askeland did not respond to two follow-up emails.
“Students are upset about many things right now, and before we went into lock down were protesting,” Askeland said.
“As the president of our AAUP-AFT advocacy chapter, I am sad to say that the decision making process for these cuts has been top-down and quite opaque,” Askeland told The Center Square.
The Center Square reached out twice each by email to Wittenberg’s president’s office, media relations, and president’s office executive assistant Cindy Beacom asking how the school decided which cuts to make and what other measures it was taking to balance its budget. None responded.
The Center Square also reached out to director of the East Asian Studies Program Dr. Nona Moskowitz and music department chair professor David Schubert, asking how they were informed their department was cut and why it was cut. Neither responded.
