The announcement of the “Pathways Toward Our Second Century” strategic plan for restructuring last Monday brought a significant amount of opinions and concerns among Loyola students and faculty.

The plan, if approved by the Board of Trustees on May 19, would cut or suspend 27 undergraduate and graduate programs and terminate 17 tenure and tenure-track faculty members. The need for restructuring has come about largely as a result of the enrollment drop following Hurricane Katrina.

“The university is facing a great instability in terms of enrollment,” said the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president.

The usual size for an incoming freshmen class is about 850. This fall’s class is expected to have 550 students.

This enrollment gap will leave the university with a $9 million deficit, which more or less continues for the four-year enrollment cycle.

“We cannot afford the current framework of the institution,” Wildes said.

About 70 percent of the university’s operating revenue comes from tuition and fees. Operating expenses in all other areas of the university have been reduced by 20 percent.

Fiscal concerns may be the driving force behind the restructuring plan, but according to the introduction of the “Pathways” document, the intent to restructure predated Katrina.

“Planning has been part of the future of life at Loyola,” said Wildes at last Tuesday’s town hall meeting. “We want to take a comprehensive look at our successes and where we want to be better.”

Many undergraduate and graduate programs previously available through the College of Arts and Sciences could be discontinued. At the undergraduate level, these would include the broadcast journalism, broadcast production, communication studies and film studies sequences available in the Communications department. Programs that fall under the umbrella of computer science and education would be discontinued. The graduate level programs for communications, computer science and education would also end.

The plan was based on consultation with the deans of each college and the Board of Trustees, according to Wildes. The restructuring plan has been devised with attention to the program review criteria that have been approved by the Standing Committee on Academic Planning. But many people still have concerns about the methods and data used to reach the conclusions of the strategic plan.

“The so-called program review criteria should have been directly linked to the data, along with the corresponding reasons and rationale for decisions made,” Stephen M. Scariano, professor of mathematics and computer science, wrote in an e-mail.

“The decision to eliminate or suspend degree programs was made on the basis of a careful assessment of student enrollment, graduation rates and program costs. For the sake of the entire university, we elected to drop programs where there was low demand relative to cost,” said a document posted on the strategic plan Web site, http://www.loyno.edu/strategicplan/.

There is concern that some of the enrollment figures used do not accurately represent the enrollment of the discontinued programs. Within the Communications department, students usually declare a sequence in their junior or senior year. According to data posted on the Provost’s Web site as of Feb. 23, there are 442 students majoring in Communications, but 221 of those students have not declared a sequence. Of those students, 78 are currently enrolled in sequences that would be eliminated by the restructuring.

There has been outspoken disapproval of the restructuring, largely from students in programs that are to be discontinued. Students enrolled in the broadcast journalism and production sequences were especially outspoken during last Tuesday’s town hall meeting.

“Most colleges do not offer broadcast journalism. Less than 100 colleges have this major,” said Holly Kangas, a broadcast journalism senior.

The timing of the “Pathways” announcement has also angered many people. Several students have written on a blog officially designated for restructuring commentary that the April 10 announcement of the restructuring left them little time to apply to transfer to another school or apply for financial aid.

The blog, designated for comments on the restructuring plan, was closed on April 19, but students are using other avenues to express their opinions about the changes.

The Student Government Association released a proposal Tuesday asking Wildes and the Board of Trustees to reconsider the “Pathways” restructuring plan. SGA President Daniel Green, political science junior, authored the proposal with extensive feedback from SGA members and students. Most students are not in favor of the restructuring plan, Green said.

“Many students understand the need for some type of restructuring, but they are cautious about agreeing to the current plan,” Green said.

A student organization called One Voice, 3,500 people has been created to represent student concerns regarding the restructuring. The group, which plans to submit a proposal to SGA, is meant to operate as a group of students unaffiliated with any school organizations. Approximately 50 to 70 people are involved in the group, said Cassie Chapel, vocal performance freshman.

“We are hoping to be proactive and bring up what the students are feeling right now by saying, ‘These are our questions, these are our concerns.'”

Under the restructuring plan, Loyola would still be made up of five colleges.

The College of Music would be merged with the department of Visual Arts and the department of Drama and Speech. This new formation is to be called the College of Music and Fine Arts and will include the departments of Music, Theatre and Dance and Visual Arts.

The current College of Arts and Sciences, combined with programs from City College, will be split into two colleges. City College will cease to exist. Within these two colleges, programs will be divided into departments and schools.

The College of Arts and Sciences would be renamed the College of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences. It would house the department of humanities, which in turn would contain the School of Religious Studies and Ministries, formerly called the Loyola Institute for Ministry. The department of natural sciences would contain the School of Nursing.

One of the two colleges is the newly created College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, which will house the department of behavioral sciences and the department of social sciences, which would contain the School of Communications. Within the School of Communications, print and photojournalism would be combined into one program.

The Joseph A. Butt, S.J., College of Business Administration would be renamed and divided into two departments. The newly titled Joseph A. Butt, S.J., College of Business would contain the departments of management, marketing and international business and the department of finance, economics and accounting. The economics program that was previously offered in the College of Arts and Sciences would now be consolidated into the College of Business.

The School of Law would be renamed the College of Law.

The undergraduate programs for majors and minors in German, Japanese, Russian, physics, music theory, music composition and piano pedagogy would be suspended. Graduate programs in music education, music in performance, music therapy and religious studies would also be suspended.

Suspension means that new students will not be admitted into the suspended degree programs for fall 2006, and current students would only be supported for the next academic year. After two years, the university would review the programs and ask for a plan to increase enrollments and then decide if the suspension will end.

Programs that are suspended would still retain some faculty, but the faculty will concentrate on teaching service and common curriculum courses, according to an e-mail from Assistant Provost John Cornwell.

Lindsey Netherly can be reached at [email protected].