Committee discusses charge, meets for first time

Cassie Buchman, News Editor

The Academic Program Elimination/Reorganization Review Committee met for the first time to discuss their charge and role going forward Friday.

Friday, Jan.20 was when the group was supposed to receive information on the programs being considered for elimination or reorganization. At 1 p.m., when it met, committee members had not recieved this information, though they received it later that afternoon.

Committee member Richard Jones,a communication studies professor, was decided on to chair the committee.

Future meetings will take place 1 p.m. Mondays in 2220 Buzzard, including this coming week.

Jones said first and foremost, the committee’s charge is to review the data it is given , request more information if needed and make recommendations based on this data.

“My understanding is that when we get the information, the recommendation from the Provost (Blair Lord) or President (David Glassman) will already be there,” Jones said. “I think the way we’re interpreting it is that we (decide if we) agree or disagree with the recommendation that is made.”

The committee is supposed to receive data on enrollment, majors and course offerings as well as program costs, but it can request additional data if they need it.

According to the contract, the committee is also expected to review “program costs and enrollment history, contributions of the program to the general education requirements, interdisciplinary and service functions, graduation requirements, and the University curriculum, and contributions of the program to the mission and goals of the University.”

One piece of information the committee discussed asking for in the meeting is rebuttals from programs recommended for elimination or consolidation given to Workgroup no.7, who originally made these recommendations, during the vitalization project process.

“The rebuttals are key. I think that will really clue us into, if a department says in a rebuttal, we have this information we could provide,” Jones said.

Before Eastern gives its recommendations on program status to the Board of Trustees, the Academic Program Elimination/Reorganization Review Committee will make its own report to the Provost by March 15.

This story will be updated and more information will be included in our print edition Monday.

Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]