Silent fall at Guilford College: cuts come home to humanities and other programs. From the article:

Guilford College plans to discontinue nearly half of its academic majors and cut another 36 positions in hopes of securing its long-term future.

This latest round of job cuts — the second in four months — will hit faculty particularly hard. The private Quaker college plans to lay off 16 tenured professors, who generally can be dismissed only under extreme circumstances….

When she arrived at Guilford in August, [interim President Carol] Moore said trustees asked her to review the college’s academic offerings to determine what she called their “educational and financial sustainability.”

After a review that began in September — the first such review at Guilford in nearly a decade — Moore said she is recommending to Guilford trustees that the college phase out 19 of its 42 academic majors. The changes won’t become official until after a trustees’ vote in early 2021 that will give time for tenured professors to appeal their dismissals….

The majors slated to be cut generally have low enrollment and are declining in popularity nationwide. Most of the discontinued majors are humanities programs, including history, philosophy, religious studies and three foreign languages. Political science, chemistry and math also will no longer be Guilford majors….

Faculty and alumni have reacted to the changes with anger and alarm.

A Facebook page titled Save Guilford College has amassed nearly 2,000 members since it was created less than two weeks ago. Some 740 people have signed an online petition urging trustees to delay the changes for a year and promising to help the college raise money.

Jessie Starling, a 2000 Guilford graduate who organized both efforts, said alumni believe the college should lean into its long-standing strengths of being a service-oriented liberal arts institution steeped in Quaker tradition and values.

“We just understand it to be a different place than what the interim president seems to be trying to save,” said Starling, an associate professor of religious studies at Oregon’s Lewis and Clark College….

Friday’s announcement is the start to a process to ensure the college’s long-term future, Moore said.

Moore listed several possibilities she is exploring to cut expenses: refinancing the college’s debt, outsourcing some college services and reviewing current contracts for potential savings.

To attract more students, Moore said Guilford is considering three new master’s programs — business administration, organizational leadership and sport management — to start next fall if faculty and the college’s accrediting agency approve.

For other articles on cuts to humanities programs, see here.

Editor’s note: I have been teaching at Guilford College since 1989 in the History Department. The Department celebrates its centennial this current academic year.