At the University of Connecticut’s Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, 12 programs were suspended and three were closed, flat tuition with fee increases were approved and a memorandum of agreement was approved between UConn and Connecticut’s five tribes.
Cuts and suspensions to programs
Closures to majors occurred as part of a review of programs with a low enrollment at UConn where approximately 215 programs were evaluated. No undergraduate majors were closed or suspended.
The Academic Affairs Committe report gave a report on low enrollment programs, outlining information on majors which were cut and majors that UConn is considering cutting.
“Deans, in collaboration with faculty from the relevant units, reviewed the program completion data and made decisions about the status of each program, including continuation without change, continuation with modifications, suspension, or closure,” the report said.
According to the report, of the approximately 215 programs, 173 are listed to continue, eight are listed to be consolidated, four to be closed, 12 to be suspended. The other 18 programs are in the ‘other’ category which includes finalizing evaluation reports.
Of the 173 programs listed to continue, 22 are master’s within a Ph.D. program, meaning that courses overlap and no further review or discussion is required. Seven programs are designed to limit enrollment, the report said. Another 71 programs operate concurrently with at least one other program, but in cases where departments proposed plans to modify their programs, monitoring may occur for future revisions.
An additional 65 programs will continue with monitoring “to provide faculty time to engage in efforts to increase enrollments” and will be “actively monitored as part of an annual evaluation of programs with low-completion rates.” Eight additional programs are slated for consolidation, according to the report.
According to a slide in a presentation given by UConn Provost Anne D’Alleva, 215 programs were evaluated as part of this report. Across four spreadsheets listing low enrollment programs, 245 programs were listed as having low enrollment. The Academic Affairs Committee Report, which was part of the Board of Trustees agenda, listed 213 programs. A Dec 2. UConn Today article listed 205 programs.
According to Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Gladis Kersaint, program reviews do not usually take place with the level of media scrutiny that has accompanied UConn’s review of low enrollment programs.
A footnote in the report explains the recording error.
“The review process identified 22 programs that had already been closed or were in the process of being closed prior to the beginning of the Fall 2024 evaluation process,” the footnote said. “They were incomplete or had not been formally documented in the university’s official records.”
This leaves eight programs unaccounted for, which have not been included in the low enrollment programs or the recording error, meaning that the figure of 215 may change and information on majors in different categories may change.
UConn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors issued a Dec. 10 press release on the meeting.
“It appears that when the UConn Board of Trustees meets on December 11, they will be eliminating only a handful of graduate programs, mostly graduate certificates, which faculty were already sunsetting as a result of faculty and department-led review processes,” the press release states.
The union credited changes to majors and academic programs over the years to professors.
“This goes to show what we have been saying all along: faculty are not afraid of change, we are the drivers of change at the university,” the press release said. “We know what is relevant, new, and dynamic in our elds, and we, not administrators, never stop changing our courses, programs, and degrees to meet the needs of our students.”
The AAUP stated that they had issues with UConn’s transparency and that while they did not voice opposition to these cuts, they stated concern over potential future cuts.
“Board of Trustees will vote on largely uncontroversial cuts this Wednesday, but the contentious review process outlined by the Provost’s Office will continue on a modified timeline next year, and may involve more painful and unnecessary closures,” the press release said.
The Board of Trustees voted to close graduate certificate programs in global health and obesity prevention and weight management, as well as a master’s program in politics and popular culture. Two of the programs have no students enrolled and the master’s program has one student enrolled who will graduate in May 2025, meaning that no teach-out plans are needed for either program.
A graduate certificate in global risk management is also on the list of programs which UConn plans to cut, but a cut to the program was not voted on at this meeting.
UConn is also planning on suspending 12 programs, none of which are undergraduate majors. The programs include master’s programs in international studies, medieval studies, survey research and a graduate certificate in digital media in design. No vote needs to be taken to suspend programs, according to University Spokesperson Stephanie Reitz.
While the report initially listed 13 programs, a graduate certificate in survey research was removed after it was mistakenly added to the list.
In an opinion article published in the Hartford Courant, D’Alleva said that program reviews are common at universities and were met with “unnecessary misinformation and misunderstandings” at UConn.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
Reitz did not provide a date on when information regarding program cuts would be released. She stated that cuts and suspensions were driven by faculty.
“As of now, faculty in some units have notified us they plan to explore the potential to consolidate some programs. However, they haven’t yet engaged in that work and reached recommendations for outcomes,” Reitz said. “The programs will be publicly identified once those outcomes are recommended, along with the rationales supporting the consolidations.”
Spanish professor Rosa Helena Chinchilla gave a public comment and said that many majors on the longer list of programs had been “thoughtfully created and woefully understaffed for years.” She stated that numbers on the list were skewed by a post-pandemic decline in higher education enrollment.
“Despite what the chair of the Board of Trustees [Daniel Toscano] told us last meeting, we are not being told which programs are on the chopping block,” Chinchilla said. “Nor can we access easily numbers of dual degrees and double majors.”
Chinchilla called on UConn’s administration to be more transparent.
Flat tuition and fee increases
UConn’s Board of Trustees approved flat tuition, a 2.75% increase to the lowest housing and dining rate and fee increases.
For graduate students, the fee increase will be $218, an approximately 13% increase. The Graduate Student Senate and Graduate Employees Union called on students to show up to the meeting.
Doctoral student and president of UConn’s Graduate Employee Union Grace Easterly gave public comment about fee increases and said that they would impact low-income and international students the most. Easterly stated that the agenda packet for the Board of Trustees meeting included information on inflation, which she said was used to justify the fee increase.
“But it doesn’t explain why the university thinks it’s fair to use fee increases to ensure our own graduate employee salaries don’t keep up with inflation next year,” Easterly said. “I think we all know lower graduate stipends make this university less competitive, makes it harder to recruit graduate workers and makes degree completion for graduate workers who are struggling even more challenging.”
Board of Trustees chair Daniel Toscano stated that anyone who wanted to submit materials to the Board of Trustees could do so.
Lincoln Hirn, a fourth-year history Ph.D. student, gave a public comment and said that UConn could not separate graduate students from graduate employees.
“The notion that we’re students first and employees second that they like to tell us is obviously a lie. I know it, they certainly know it and you, my fellow graduate employees know it,” Hearn said.
“It doesn’t stop them from lying to you about what these fees really are, which is a wage cut,” Hearn said. “They know that when you go to the grocery store and have less money tomorrow than you do today that it’ll be their fault. And they know that no amount of lying will make that any less true or put any more food in your fridge.”
Memorandum of Agreement between UConn and Connecticut’s tribes
The Board of Trustees voted to approve a memorandum of agreement between UConn and Connecticut’s five tribes, the Eastern Pequot, Golden Hill Paugussett, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, the Mohegan Tribe and the Schaghticoke.
Chair of the Mohegan Tribal Council of Elders Beth Regan, also known as Morning Deer, spoke to the Board of Trustees about the memorandum.
“How appropriate that the flagship university that bears this name [Connecticut] will be the first college that respectfully allows tribal nations here today and beyond to teach and learn about ourselves on our own land including our language, history, politics, arts and sciences,” Regan said.
Regan said that tribes would bring their knowledge to UConn.
“At the same time, we will bring our Indigenous knowledge of the ancient stories and ways of this land, as well as the native perspective on Connecticut in an informed way from its first peoples,” Regan said.
Rodney Butler, chair of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, said he views the memorandum as meaningful action which goes beyond words.
“This historic agreement starts to complete a long and dark circle,” Butler said. “It establishes a much overdue correct relationship with the five tribes of Connecticut.”