Louisiana Begins To Rightsize Its State University System

Of course, the obligatory howls of indignation will soon follow.

More than 100 academic degree programs will be eliminated statewide for not graduating enough students, the Louisiana Board of Regents decided Wednesday.

Nearly 200 more academic programs will be consolidated or shaped into new programs, under the plan approved by the board that sets policy for the state’s public colleges and universities. Southern University has the most degree programs being directly terminated, with 13 degrees lost, including its Spanish and French bachelor’s degrees, the Regents determined.

At first blush, this seems unfortunate, and in terms of the job losses for affected faculty, it is regrettable.

On the other hand, our present challenges do force us to ask simple questions, like:

'Is a bachelors degree in Spanish or French needed at every state university?'

'Is a bachelors degree in Spanish or French needed to produce young people fluent and literate in these languages, or any language, for that matter?'

'Does any school need a BS in Sustainable Agriculture?'

And finally, and most importantly, 'For what purpose, and for whom, should the undergraduate degree exist?' OS thinks it does serve an important purpose, but the time has come to revisit the question, probably school-by-school and state-by-state. We could emerge from this painful episode much healthier as a culture if we take this opportunity, and ask those questions.

It's a long story for another day, but OS worked alongside a highly-placed administrator at a large Public U for about a year, about ten years ago. This gent was very bright, and told OS: 'This Public U will have to operate increasingly as a Private U, and essentially be free of the legislature by 2020, if it is to survive. There will not be enough tax money to sustain the system. It's my job to tell all the deans this, and tell them to plan for that day. I'm the most hated man on campus.'

Highly-Placed Administrator was dead-on in his diagnosis. He only got the time-line wrong, as the day of reckoning arrived ten years ahead of his prediction.