 "Photo: Caitlin Bush")
When junior Christopher Fisher got to UCF, he chose a major that interested him and began the four-year journey to graduation.
But about a month ago, Fisher hit a road block when the university announced that his degree was on the list of proposed program cuts.
“I heard about the [budget] cuts through a Facebook message asking me if I knew that my major was being cut,” Fisher said. “I had no idea.”
UCF has proposed eliminating management information systems along with four other majors as part of its plan for handling budget cuts.
As a result, many students are now left in precarious situations. Some freshmen have discovered that the major that they were set to pursue is no longer going to be available, even though it was their sole reason for coming to UCF.
Students currently in the programs have to choose between selecting another major or switching schools to continue on in their programs.
Fisher was told that he had three options: continue on with his major classes, change his major completely, or transfer to a different school. The catch was that in order to stay in the program, Fisher had to pass all of his major courses.
“I’m going to take the risk and try to complete my major by spring 2011,” Fisher said. If problems do arise, however, Fisher said he would transfer schools — most likely to the University of Tampa.
Fisher said the reasons behind the cuts have to do with demand and cost. For instance, the MIS program has 265 students and nine faculty members, and cutting the program will save the university $1.7 million. To Fisher, the costs outweigh the demand.
He said that if there were more demand for the program, UCF would probably keep it.
For UCF alumnus and part-time MIS graduate student Michael Kahn, however, those reasons aren’t good enough.
Kahn had heard about the cuts from UCF News & Information and student employees.
“I was told the program was going to be eliminated,” Kahn said. “One of my main concerns is that they don’t give a valid reason when they published the list of programs to be cut.”
Kahn had just started the program and was planning to go full time in spring 2010 but he said it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.
Kahn created a Facebook group to bring awareness to the MIS program’s plight called Save the UCF MIS Department. Kahn said the group’s members are working to hand in a petition to the president to get him to reconsider eliminating the program.
“I just think it’s unreasonable,” Kahn said. “By removing the program, they’re leaving the college without a technology-based major. It seems a little strange.”
It is not just students who are upset with the changes; faculty members and staff now have to face the possibility of unemployment.
Lawrence West, an associate professor in the MIS program, learned of the proposed cuts a few weeks ago when the deans of the colleges were instructed to hold meetings with their faculty.
West said he was told that professors would be given one more year of employment to “teach out” the current students and that no new applicants would be taken for the 2009-10 school year.
West said he is concerned with the impact that the MIS program will have on the community once it is gone.
“The graduates of this program make $45,000 to $65,000 per year,” West said. “Large numbers of them stay in the Central Florida area and provide information technology for businesses.
“That opportunity for both students and employers is going away.”
The proposed program cuts will be presented to the Board of Trustees at the July meeting, awaiting approval to move forward.
Be the first to comment on this article!