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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Top Galleries: January 24, 2007 High anxiety as students mull future By Anita Burke For the Tidings Since Magdalena Staniek learned this week that she will lose her job as coordinator of Southern Oregon University's international studies program, she has spent time in her classroom and office reassuring students. "They all want to know, 'Am I going to be able to graduate?' " she said. "I tell them that the major is viable. We are still taking new majors and growing; it's just going to be administered differently." With a preliminary plan for carving roughly $4 million from SOU's budget announced Monday, students' questions are echoing around campus. The plan calls for cutting about 24 faculty positions in 22 academic programs; eliminating German, geology and geography majors; ending the honors program; and consolidating three schools into one new College of Arts and Sciences. On the nonacademic side, 30 jobs will be cut, mostly from student affairs, business services and other administrative staff positions. Staniek reminds students that even though she has been the face of the international studies program for four years as its coordinator, a faculty advisory board actually runs the program and will continue to do so. Other professors in economics, history, foreign languages, political science and other participating departments will take over her duty advising about 50 international studies majors. "The program will outlast the person," she said, noting that she will leave the university this spring after a decade there. Molly Mattick, 20, a sophomore from Gold Beach, had considered majoring in international studies, but now she isn't sure. "It seemed kind of vague," she said of the proposed changes. "I'm hoping upperclassmen can tell me more." However, the changes are even worse for Mattick's twin brother, Alex, a geology major. "He's really bummed trying to figure out what he's going to do," she said. Underclassmen won't be able to continue in the majors slated for elimination, although officials promised to see juniors and seniors through to graduation. "It's going to be a crappy situation," said Alex Martinez, 20, a junior geology major from San Jose, Calif. "This program is why I'm here and I don't have a back-up plan." He said he knew he wanted a geology degree, which should offer him good job prospects, and was drawn to SOU's small class sizes, excellent field work opportunities and the chance to work one-on-one with professors. Even students not in departments directly affected by the proposed cuts are worried. "It makes me want to leave," said Ethan Smith, 18, a physics major from Eugene. He liked the idea of small classes and the chance to do research with professors, but he thinks he's the only freshman physics major and fears his program could be next. "I see SOU focusing on liberal arts," he said. Indeed, the plan documenting the proposed cuts describes creating a "Center of Excellence in Fine and Performing Arts," and the theater department wasn't considered for any cuts. "Theater has a large number of majors and supports the strategic mission of the institution as a Center of Excellence in Fine and Performing Arts," the plan said. "It draws more students from out of state than any program on campus and has obvious important links to the Shakespeare Festival." Current Comments: If the future is going to be Fine and Performing Arts, why wasn't dropping the football program considered? For that matter, why have any athletic programs outside of required PE classes when degree programs are being eliminated and people are being fired? Thomas - Ashland - January 24th, 2:03 PM Why have any PE at all? This isn't grade school, where kids are cooped up all day and need to run off some energy. For that matter, drop all athletics except intramural, low-maintenance sports (no coaches). Why not? Cut frills and fat, not geology! nofreelunch - ashland, OR - January 24th, 7:11 PM I graduated the SOU geology program in 2000. Learning geology at SOU was one of the best experiences of my life. The faculty is outstanding and the opportunity for field studies here in Southern Oregon is world class. Since graduating I have found local employment as a geospatial scientist and I owe it all to SOU. I am sad to see such a fine program get cut. One more comment; An academic institution with limited mainstream science programs is not a "University", it is simply a school. Tom - Ashland Oregon - January 24th, 7:38 PM I am a 2005 gradute of SOU who has been saddened by the events which have transpired over the past week. Why do this to students in the German, Geography, and Geology departments? How are those fields less important than Business, Anthropology, Psychology, or Biology? Has everyone failed to notice the number of out of state students that come to SOU in the summer because of the Geology department? Dismayed - Ashland, Oregon - January 24th, 11:21 PM In reply to Thomas and nofreelunch comments, if athletic programs were eliminated at SOU you would be looking at a decline in enrollment of a thousand or more students. The athletic programs draw students to SOU. JD - Ashlaand, OR - January 25th, 9:57 AM Sports are funded through the "Incidental Fee" which comes from a student's tuition. The savings to the general fund (state taxes) would not be as great as eliminating courses. (But would help lower bloated tuition). Health/PE classes could/should be eliminated on par with geology/geography/German. Also, sports do "draw" students. Recruitment is targeted to out-of-state students who pay higher tuition and are more desirable to the university for that reason. Dane Coefer - Ashland, Oregon - January 25th, 11:30 AM I graduated from SOU in 2003 from the Biology Dept. I have become a Doctor of Physical Therapy and attended health, french, and psychology courses in addition to science and I am shocked by these recent cuts. When I was at SOU, they were cutting science electives right and left, making it difficult to even graduate. In this modern era, what could be more important than science? How many cures for diseases are going to come from the theatre dept? When did Germany drop off the list of import? Depressed - Medford, OR - February 19th, 6:58 PM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising: Debt Help Inkjet Printers Payday Loans Free Ringtones Debt Consolidation Security Systems Debt Relief New Hampshire Primary Advertisement: Copyright © 2007 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved. Del.icio.us