Wittenberg to end two majors as it seeks to reduce overall costs

Feb. 19--Wittenberg University has announced that it will discontinue two majors going into the next academic year as part of an ongoing plan that also includes reducing academic program expenses by $2.5 million per year.

The decision to eliminate majors in French and Dance comes after the university announced last year that it would cut at least eight teaching positions for the 2020-2021 academic school year. An additional 10 faculty members also opted for early retirement, the News-Sun reported in December.

Representatives of the university have stated that students currently enrolled in those majors will still have the opportunity to complete them. There are currently eight Dance majors enrolled and five French majors, according to Wittenberg.

"Obviously, we know that eliminating or downsizing courses and programs means faculty members will no longer be with us. These may have been your beloved professors," said Wittenberg's President Mike Frandsen in a message to alumni.

"So, we do this reluctantly, fully aware of the sensitivities, but also fully aware that we can no longer put off such hard decisions," he added.

The university offered roughly 80 programs, including a mixture of majors and minors, during the 2018-2019 academic school year and a handful of those programs were being reviewed by an educational policies committee.

So far, only Dance and French have been approved by the Wittenberg's Board of Directors for discontinuance following a recommendation from faculty, according to Karen Gerboth, the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the university.

The cuts come at a time when undergraduate enrollment has lagged at Wittenberg, with the university's goal of having 500 students for the freshman class of 2019-2020 falling short by 156 students. The retention rate for first-year students going into their sophomore year at the university has been 70% for the last three years, Frandsen told alumni in his message to them last week.

"There are sobering demographic trends on the horizon -- a sharp decline nationally in the number of high school graduates beginning in the mid-2020s," he said. "A heavy debt load accumulated over more than 20 years is adding to financial pressures, and we face the prospect of operating at a deficit for the next few years."

Frandsen previously told the News-Sun that the private liberal arts college expects to see a drop in the university's four to six-year graduation rates when data being collected now is analyzed.

As of September, Wittenberg had a total of 1,619 students enrolled. That is a decrease of 175 students compared to the same period last year, according to data from Wittenberg.

There has also been a drop in full-time students enrolled at the university, which decreased from 1,731 students to 1,567 between September of 2018 and 2019.

"We need to make some difficult decisions. I've talked about the importance of acting with urgency -- but not panic," Frandsen said. "We must also play the "long game," acting decisively while we honor our time-tested values and strengthen our foundations for the future."

Two special committees were created by Wittenberg earlier this month including a nine-member Debt Reduction and Financial Restructuring Committee and a 11-member Academic Program Futures Committee.

The first is tasked with seeking ways to reduce Wittenberg's long-term financial liabilities and the latter will be tasked with reducing academic program expenses by $2.5 million per year no later than the 2021-22 academic year.

"Our financial challenges resulted from years of decisions -- some excellent at the time -- that look different in the current environment. But all were approved by a board that has ultimate fiduciary responsibility for the university," Frandsen said in his message to alumni.

Both committees will be asked to deliver recommendations to the university's board of directors on May 7, Frandsen added.

At its meeting earlier this month, the board approved to move ahead with renovations of Koch Hall that will be fueled by a $10 million lead gift, according to Frandsen. He said the renovations are expected to be completed during the 2021-2022 academic school year.

"We have committed sources of funding, but we will pursue other donors, and we know we will cover the cost of this through benefactors' donations," he said.

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