Since the announcement of the new super-college (as the Daily Wildcat calls it) that will hold four colleges in one, called Liberal Arts and Sciences, there has been a lot of confusion about what, exactly, the result will be and precisely how it saves money.
Take a look at the "Welcome Back" message from Provost Hay: http://provost.arizona.edu/node/251
Can you tell exactly what this means?
It seems that this merger is a clever way of eliminating overlapping programs (which might be good and might be bad) and will certainly cause lots of 'synergizing', 'brainstorming' and 'cross-program co-collaborationality.' It will also surely result in cuts, mostly in terms of personnel.
The Daily Wildcat (way to stay on top of things, guys!) questioned the benefits of the merger to the student body at large in their Opinions section today:
http://media.wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2009/01/15/Opinions/Editorial.Creation.Of.Ua.supercollege.May.Have.Unanticipated.Consequences-3586723.shtml
If class-offerings are being cut when it's already hard to get your required credits and get out on time, where exactly are the benefits to the students?
SPBAC reports that: "ABOR has instructed the UA to prepare for a $20M, $40M, $60M or $80M budgetcut THIS fiscal year, i.e., within a few weeks. The high end is a distinct possibility."
With rapidly declining support from the State of Arizona, the university is taking drastic steps. Program closures are to be expected.
More information should be released tomorrow (Friday).
This all leaves us asking: Shouldn't we be investing in education? Does panic today mean a totally dumbed-down population of our state tomorrow?
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