LAST THURSDAY, it was reported that, due to funding constraints, the economics department will lose 11 instructors between this year and next. As a result, the economics department will be left with 23 instructors teaching some 846 majors. Roughly 600 fewer spaces will be available for students taking classes in economics. This seems like a sick joke. When one of the most popular majors at the University begins to scramble for faculty, it's undeniable that a very deep problem exists, and it urgently needs to be solved. Consistently declining levels of state support for higher education have made the support of suffering departments a difficult task for the University. More needs to be done, urgently. Private donors, particularly alumni and friends of the University, need to step up to the plate and inject some cash into our school's academic programs, or risk a steep and painful decline from the status our University now enjoys. This is where another change must be made immediately. Alumni who give to athletics need to divert their generosity toward the University's academic programs, or risk seeing whatever investments they've made in the past tank horrifically and permanently.
|
Budget constraints, particularly those of state-funded institutions of higher learning, are nothing new. Belt-tightening, restricting funds to various programs and measures like hiring freezes are just a fact of life. Having a department literally collapsing before our eyes, however, is another matter. Last Wednesday's announcement to cut 11 instructors from the economics department has led some faculty members to speculate that this is the beginning of a long, hard decline for the University.
The University community should heed this warning seriously. When one of our own feels that the constraints we're now under could lead to such a collapse, we must take it as a call to action to do whatever is necessary to keep university academic programs running smoothly. To not do so would be blind and careless.
Big-time donations to the University's academic programs are an enormous part of how our community operates. The names of these donors are present in our everyday lives - Rouss and McIntyre, for example, are names that immediately are recognizable. Others, such as those of Frank and Wynette Levinson, who gave $20 million to the astronomy and sociology departments in 2000, may not be so well recognized but are equally accepted and appreciated as providing a solid financial base for academic programs.
Tens of thousands of other alumni and friends of the University donate money over the telephone and by mail each year. These donations, big and small alike, are the bread and butter of the University's academic programs. Prior to the recent state budget cuts, only 13 percent of the University's budget came from the state. That number has declined significantly. It is through private donations that the University can continue to thrive, and help maintain some of its highest priorities - providing the highest quality academic programs in the country, and maintaining a national ranking which reflects that commitment to academics.
The question which remains then, is whether or not the money from private sources will come in to support University academic programs. To a certain extent, it will - perhaps not as much as the University administration would like, but the money will come in. It's not reasonable to imagine that the University would let a department like economics collapse beyond recognition.
In the midst of this scraping for money and chaos, however, there is a deeper, more disturbing problem.
University athletics will barely have to deal with these budgetary concerns, because donors to athletics will continue to be blind to academic concerns and mesmerized by athletic spectacle.
Big-ticket athletics at the University - basketball and football - will continue to thrive as always despite this budget crunch, with constraints barely affecting their respective programs. Donations to first tier athletics at the University are inevitably sizable and make for great press attention. For example, the $20 million donation by Paul Tudor Jones II toward construction of a new basketball arena last October provided a healthy dose of public relations attention for University athletics. Another example is that of the Carl Smith Center, also funded by a hefty donation and providing for great public relations time.
A change needs to be made. This university is nothing without its academic programs. If they suffer, the whole university suffers. Donors who already give to academic programs here should be commended. Donors who give to athletic programs should be reminded that even if basketball and football were to collapse to their pathetic losing records of the late 60s and early 70s - our ranking still would edge out over Berkeley with solid academics.
(Austen Givens' column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at agivens@cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | YesterdayThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | YesterdayAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | 6 days agoEvery student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
