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FIU Eliminates More Than 20 Programs
Students Currently In Programs Will Be Allowed To Complete Degrees
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
June 12th 2008 marked a historic day for Florida International University, with the Board of Trustees cutting more than 20 programs at the University, the result of millions of dollars in statewide budget cuts.
Industrial Engineering students held out hope until the very end, praying that FIU's Board of Trustees would spare their program. They begged administrators to rethink their plans in cutting programs, but in the end they voted Thursday to eliminate that program along with more than 20 others that will no longer be offered by the public university.
"The chairman votes in favor…the motion passes," and the programs' fates were sealed.
Professors like Mark Resnick will be out of work.
"I will be able to find a job very quickly," said Resnick. "But it's really the program that is at a loss. It's the students that are at a loss. And it's the university that is at a loss."
Some of the programs are related to teaching, nursing and engineering, and employees will be laid off in an effort to cope with deep budget cutbacks from the state legislature.
Students made their pleas in front of the college's board of trustees Thursday, in hopes of saving several of these programs.
"So all we are asking is please give us an opportunity; please let us keep our program," said one student on the podium, as she faced the board of trustees. "Don't let it be so rushed. If you're going to close something, please think about it because it's only been three weeks."
But the reality remains that administrators must balance a budget that has more than $35 million taken away from it by the state. Department chairs were also on hand pleading to salvage their departments. Administrators say they have already dipped into reserve funds on a one-time-only basis, to keep this term running smoothly.
FIU needs to cut more than $70 million from the school's budget over the next three years.
"Today it's 30 programs," said FIU President Mitch Maidique. "Next year is it another 30 possibly? We have developed a three year plan which will see us through these difficult times."In May, the school presented an outline of the cuts before a crowd of more than 700 at the University Park campus's Graham Center that included students, faculty and staff, some of whom showed up to protest. The cuts include layoffs of 176 people over the next three years, and the elimination of a further 100 positions through attrition and job vacancies.
"More important the kids because you need good teachers, and teaching is a career that can never go away, and they have to make sure that they're giving what we require," said education major Ani Elka.
Concerned students carried placards protesting the elimination of degree programs in May. FIU's College of Education, which produces half the new recruits annually for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, is eliminating degrees for English, math, science, social studies and exercise science teachers.
FIU, the largest university in South Florida with 38,000 students, is already turning away hundreds of qualified local students, a problem expected to worsen over the long term.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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