Elizabeth City State College In Danger of Cutting Physics, Political Science and History Undergraduate Degree Programs
ByElizabeth City State University (ECSU) is reportedly considering ending seven undergraduate degree programs because of declining enrollment and less funding, Inside Higher Ed reported.
One of the University of North Carolina's (UNC) 17 campuses, ECSU may cut out their physics, political science and history programs, said provost Ali Khan. UNC's general administrations office deemed the programs "low productive," but ECSU is not alone in this designation.
Approximately 11 percent of UNC's academic programs have gotten the same categorization. While many schools have to cut extraneous programs, ECSU believe physics, political science and history are necessary for all undergraduate students to study.
ECSU is just one of many colleges across the country experiencing economic hardships and being faced with having to shear programs once viewed as vital for all students. Of course, academic authorities are not pleased with such developments.
Carol Geary Schneider, the president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, said the prospect of ECSU, a historically black college, having to cut its history program is "potentially debilitating."
"Nothing is more fundamental than history to students' understanding of their roles and responsibilities as citizens of this diverse and still decidedly unequal democracy," she said. "Cutting out history means cutting out both memory and hope."
James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association, said for a school that prides itself on its history of serving young black students, cutting the history program is "ironic" and "tragic."
"Institutions often, when they face budgetary difficulty, think about programs to cut," Grossman said. "I think in this case, especially, it seems troubling and tragic. Elizabeth City State University is a historically black university - it has the word 'historically' in its name, which tells you part of its identity has to do with its sense of itself in a historical context."
ECSU was founded 25 years at the end of the Civil War and lists its mission as "teaching and training teachers of the colored race to teach in the common schools of North Carolina."
Khan said the subject of history would not be completely wiped from the curriculum, should the school go forward with the plan, just the undergraduate degree program.
"This matter is still very much in the discussion stage as several campus programs have to be involved and multiple levels of approval sought," he said in a statement Monday. "While a degree program may be discontinued in the future, some amount of that discipline coursework would still be taught."