The Fora: A Higher Education Community

I missed the announcement this spring that Medaille in Buffalo, NY is closing this month.

Followers of this thread will recognize the pattern: small, bad managment, area with lots of excess higher ed capacity, no endowment, big debt, a pointless and unjustified rebranding as University last year, and a pointless extravagant capital project.

This recent blog post detailing the mess brought it to my attention.

Alfred University, which I assume must be in the same region, is busy pursuing Medaille Students:


https://www.alfred.edu/admissions/medaille/


Which is good for Medaille students who need a new place to go, I guess.  It does smack a bit of somebody warming their hands and roasting weenies by the fire of their neighbors' burning house.

Quote from: apl68 on August 10, 2023, 07:43:45 AMAlfred University, which I assume must be in the same region, is busy pursuing Medaille Students:


https://www.alfred.edu/admissions/medaille/


Which is good for Medaille students who need a new place to go, I guess.  It does smack a bit of somebody warming their hands and roasting weenies by the fire of their neighbors' burning house.

If the fire department has given up on it, while it may look awkward, it's basically making the best of a bad situation, since there's no other action that could save it.

Quote from: apl68 on August 10, 2023, 07:43:45 AMAlfred University, which I assume must be in the same region, is busy pursuing Medaille Students:


https://www.alfred.edu/admissions/medaille/


Which is good for Medaille students who need a new place to go, I guess.  It does smack a bit of somebody warming their hands and roasting weenies by the fire of their neighbors' burning house.

It's likely a requirement to have partnerships for the students. I was at an institution that was a landing spot for a closing college. They were required to find partner institutions who had to put processes in place to help graduate these displaced students. 

ETA: That's what they are referring to here from their website:  "First thing's first. It's critical that you let us know you're considering Alfred University as your teach-out school of choice for the Fall semester. "

Alfred is a two-hour drive from Buffalo.

Quote from: apl68 on August 10, 2023, 07:43:45 AMAlfred University, which I assume must be in the same region, is busy pursuing Medaille Students:


https://www.alfred.edu/admissions/medaille/


Which is good for Medaille students who need a new place to go, I guess.  It does smack a bit of somebody warming their hands and roasting weenies by the fire of their neighbors' burning house.

Quote from: Mobius on August 10, 2023, 05:52:49 PMAlfred is a two-hour drive from Buffalo.

Quote from: apl68 on August 10, 2023, 07:43:45 AMAlfred University, which I assume must be in the same region, is busy pursuing Medaille Students:


https://www.alfred.edu/admissions/medaille/


Which is good for Medaille students who need a new place to go, I guess.  It does smack a bit of somebody warming their hands and roasting weenies by the fire of their neighbors' burning house.

S'mores taste better when there is a whiff of schadenfreude in the smoke, no?

WVU plans to cut 7% of its faculty, including ALL of its languages. I guess this is the end of WVU as an R1:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2023/08/11/wvu-proposes-cutting-7-flagship-campus-faculty-all-languages

Quote from: Golazo on August 11, 2023, 05:21:04 PMWVU plans to cut 7% of its faculty, including ALL of its languages. I guess this is the end of WVU as an R1:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2023/08/11/wvu-proposes-cutting-7-flagship-campus-faculty-all-languages

A Reddit update:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/15oe781/massive_cut_at_west_virginia_university/

Quote from: Golazo on August 11, 2023, 05:21:04 PMWVU plans to cut 7% of its faculty, including ALL of its languages. I guess this is the end of WVU as an R1:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2023/08/11/wvu-proposes-cutting-7-flagship-campus-faculty-all-languages

That may not be the case. The internal communication indicated that departments meeting R1 criteria in funding and graduate training were exempt from review.

Regarding West Virginia University, it is worth noting their ongoing battle with their basketball coach.  After a verbal miscue, his salary was cut by $1 million (! I think he was making $4 million/year), then he had a DUI which led to his resignation although he claims he did not resign - this case is still pending, I believe.  While his salary is only (!) 10% of the budget deficit, it is a remarkable amount of money for a basketball coach at a public university.

That may not be the case. The internal communication indicated that departments meeting R1 criteria in funding and graduate training were exempt from review.
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My point was that it would be hard to have a meaningful graduate program in a lot of areas that WVU offers without any languages. Can you do history without languages? Can you do international political science? etc. I mean: "the university is exploring alternative methods of delivery such as a partnership with an online language app" sounds more like a dubious for-profit.

Sadly there is going to be more of this in WV.   

Is any PhD in any discipline/ dept, from WVU, considered a decent degree by any scholarly association?

Does anyone know what's happening at Flint? Just saw this article recently.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2023/07/18/hancellor-deba-dutta-university-of-michigan-flint/70426852007/

Seems like a stark contrast from their goal a year ago on "transformative" changes to make the school viable again. I thought the whole point of bringing in the consultants and the proposed 100$ million investment was a hope for improvement. Seems at this point even the chancellor gave up and is running

QuoteMy point was that it would be hard to have a meaningful graduate program in a lot of areas that WVU offers without any languages. Can you do history without languages? Can you do international political science? etc. I mean: "the university is exploring alternative methods of delivery such as a partnership with an online language app" sounds more like a dubious for-profit.

Sadly there is going to be more of this in WV.   

None of these things have a large impact on making a school an R1. Engineering and sciences, on the other hand, have a HUGE impact.

Carnegie Classification: institutions that awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees during the update year and also institutions with below 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees that awarded at least 30 professional practice doctoral degrees in at least 2 programs. Excludes Special Focus Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities.

The first two categories (R1 and R2) include only institutions that awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees and had at least $5 million in total research expenditures (as reported through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research & Development Survey (HERD)).

Sponsored Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences are pennies compared to Sciences. There's just no getting around that. Plus WVU has a Medical School. They're not in any danger of losing their R1 status.

There are 146 R1's, in case anyone was interested: https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/institutions/?basic2021__du%5B%5D=15

And yes, WVU is a well-respected school in many circles. I'm sorry if you think the West Virginia stigma works against them.

Any serious scholar in a wide variety of disciplines (not all, of course), not just humanities, must be able to at least read German and probably also French.   Etc.   It is not possible, simply put, for Bubbaville St U to retain its serious university status without foreign languages.