In her sign language class, Anya Tapley learned to express metaphors and create poetry through a language “that’s more than just a language.” The instructor taught her how to think outside the box, a skill she said she’ll use in her future career.
When the 21-year-old junior learned that Columbia College Chicago plans to discontinue the ASL degree next academic year, she said she’s upset that future students likely won’t have access to the courses and professors who have set her up to become a top-notch interpreter.
“It’s just disappointing. It’s going to completely affect the deaf community in Chicago and neighboring areas,” she said. “It feels like we’re going back in time.”
The school announced Monday night that it will cut 11 undergraduate and graduate programs and eliminate up to 25 faculty positions to “promote future growth centered around student success” amid ongoing budget trouble and declining enrollment. The number of undergraduate degrees will decrease from 58 to 33 through consolidating some and cutting others, including environmental and sustainability studies, ASL, cultural studies and art history.
Interim President Jerry Tarrer has said many programs cost more to run than the school collects in tuition due to enrollment of fewer than 50 students, and that he hopes simplified programming will help rein in its sizable budget deficit to break even in two years and boost enrollment, which has seen about a 36% drop in the past decade.
“We wanted to make sure that our curriculum reflects what industry needs are and what parents and students are asking for,” Tarrer told the Tribune. “Those are the primary considerations … to ensure that for the short and long haul we are providing a curriculum that will help to deliver professional success for young creatives who choose Columbia.”
Founded in 1890 as a school of oratory for young women, the college later functioned mainly as a commuter school with narrowly focused offerings for working adults. It later evolved into an arts and media college with a full liberal arts curriculum. But the school has started to show signs of recent struggles.
Last year, hundreds of adjunct faculty members went on strike for almost 50 days, believed to be the longest strike in higher education history, after the school eliminated classes to cut costs. In June, Columbia laid off 70 staff members, citing financial woes and declining student enrollment. The cuts, which hit 20% of unionized staff, were criticized by one staffer as students and employees bearing the brunt of “financial missteps.”
Tapley and other students say they have concerns about their quality of education moving forward. Tapley said those in the program have known for months that ASL was on the chopping block, so she wasn’t particularly surprised by the announcement, but that it seems to be already affecting morale and teaching opportunities.
“Everyone has gone down so much from learning this information that it’s just not the same as it was a few semesters back,” she said. “I have a lot of confusion with the whole money aspect. I wish that there could be a clear (cost) breakdown for me to understand.”
Students enrolled in the discontinued programs can finish out in that major, which is the route Tapley plans to take. She said she hopes the school continues to pay for the Board for Evaluation of Interpreters certification test for ASL students, saying, if not, it would be another cumbersome cost on top of rising tuition.
Even students enrolled in programs that weren’t entirely cut will have to make adjustments, said junior and student government President Jenna Davis. She was confused when she heard that the school plans to combine her fine arts major with photography and illustration for a new “visual arts” degree because of the differences in the subjects.
“Students are sad, they’re frustrated, and I think more than anything, disappointed,” she said. “We want stability in our school, and it doesn’t feel like we have that right now. I know it comes from needing to restructure the school in order for it to survive, but it really hurts in the moment.”
She hopes the school will be “open and transparent” about what these changes may mean for students in the future. She added that students were able to offer some input to school directors throughout the restructuring process.
“No matter what, our students are so talented, and they’re going to make art no matter what their degree is, and they’re going to be talented no matter what their degree is,” she said. “This isn’t to say I am justifying the school’s decision, but I know that no matter what, our students are going to thrive.”
On the faculty side, there’s a “great deal of anxiety” because people don’t know who will be part of the 25 layoffs, set to be announced early next month, said Rojhat Avsar, an associate professor of economics and president of the Faculty Senate.
The layoffs, which will impact about 10% of faculty, come at an inopportune time because most interviews in the academic job market take place in November and December, and few openings are left by January, he said. Columbia has said affected faculty will receive severance packages.
“It’s important for the college to be really transparent about the process that has led to these outcomes, and also, I think it requires a very empathetic communication campaign,” he said.
Michael Caplan, an associate professor and president of Columbia’s American Association of University Professors chapter, feels like faculty have lost control of their curriculum, which he said is a “professional academic standard.” He wishes the college would have taken more time to make decisions so professors can develop the best possible curriculum for students.
“(Faculty) have to provide new programs, reshape programs, cut certain programs in order to fit within what the administration has laid out as the new standard,” he said. “People are predictably super depressed, upset, angry. It’s demoralizing.”
“(Columbia College) is still unique and remarkable, and the teachers are going to do their best to get through this and give students the best education they can offer,” he added.