I'm not going to lie - while it sucks for the departments affected, I actually think universities cutting tiny departments is probably a good thing and more universities are probably going to follow suit. This kind of hints at a deep growing conflict inside of higher-ed - is the primary beneficiary the students and undergraduate programs, or is it the academic community and graduate program? Having niche programs is…
The Cuts at WVU
71–80 of 110 posts
Re: The Cuts at WVU
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reminds me of when MIT was putting student hacks, like the fire truck on the dome, on the front of their promotional material while prosecuting those same students for exploring unlocked areas of the campus.
It reminds me of the librarian that left $4 million to the University of New Hampshire and they spend $1 million of it on a scoreboard for the football team https://time.com/4497472/university-of-new-hampshire-librari...
I'm an engineer, I went to a school, I also played football and was in a fraternity. I think my school knows what they're doing. If I was to give them money in bequest, I'd either let them deal with it or I'd actually point it at the athletic department.
Actually now that I think of it I'd just put a $1M donation on game socks. All student athletes get great new socks once a week.
That and maybe something that encourages the good TAs to all be at the athletic complex.
My point is, based on a photo of me when I'm 80 and my career choice, you'd have no idea what I'd want to do with my money.
Re: The Cuts at WVU
#73For reference, here are all the proposed WVU cuts by dept (~7.25% total faculty reduction): https://provost.wvu.edu/files/d/da8e760e-d129-47c1-b06d-5fe9... More context: https://wvutoday.wvu.edu/stories/2023/08/11/wvu-announces-pr... and https://provost.wvu.edu/academic-transformation/academic-pro...
"For example, Mining Engineering has experienced a decline in enrollment, yet this area is critical to the state and the region, and there is unmet occupational demand. Also experiencing similar challenges is the Petroleum and Natural Gas program" Very interesting. The politicians of West Virginia want to prop up the oil and mining industries. Young people do not want careers that destroy the planet. So the solution…
And while you might want to replace those furnaces with something else, there really isn't a great way to do that. Most of them are already running and are going to need to run another 10-25 years before they're replaced in order to pay for themselves. You can't just shut them off, because then you won't have steel and you do need steel for civilization to keep running smoothly.
So what you're left with is trying to make hydrogen cheap enough to replace the coal furnaces and make it worth the extra R&D time required to get your foundry producing in-spec material with a different fuel source, which means their processes need to be better with the new fuel as well.
If that sounds like it'll take decades to happen, well yeah, you're right, probably decades to even start happening, so we need to keep mining coal, and, it'd be a very good idea to get young, bright minds involved, because the mining process is, by my estimation, ripe for automation, and if you want to directly reduce the human cost of mining in general, robots is how you do it, and that's also a goal worth pursuing given the number of people die every year digging in the dirt, not just in the United States, but worldwide.
Re: The Cuts at WVU
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you’re middle class or less and not exceptionally academically able then the only acceptable outcome is you exit an affordable college with a useful degree. The other crap is for rich kids that can study botany You roll your eyes at kids in “book clubs”, then use a freaking STEM program as your example. Botanists, the people studying plants so they can make healthier crops among other things, are your example of…
I think you missed the entire point. Botany is great and important for some exceptionally talented person. The kind of kid that gets scholarship to a top university because they’re super smart and conscientious. These people will make a difference. It’s pointless for a middle class kid of average or even slightly above average ability with nothing to fall back on. These people need to make a living. Once you’re earni…
Your claim is directly analogous to “study physics on your own once you have a real job”.
The notion that only the wealthy should be able to pursue critical fields is dystopian as hell. I’m not a botanist. I don’t even know that I know any. I bought a cartful of their research at the supermarket today, though.
Re: The Cuts at WVU
#75Speaking as a parent, the state of higher education is shocking. Costs of $300,000 for a 4-year degree ($75K/year for tuition, fees, and housing) is not just possible, it's essentially the norm for many schools that aren't even top-tier. Even state schools will run about $200,000, all-in. God forbid you have more than one child. Universities tout their need-based financial aid, but the cut off is often far below the…
The largest component of that is $13k living expenses which you would spend anyway if not attending. If you want lower living costs you can attend a non-prestigious university in a smaller town like I did with lower tuition and noticeably lower living costs. Combine this with taking AP classes and CLEP tests in high school and using community college in the summer for the worthless "common core" college credits and the savings are much larger. You don't have to spend $200k!
Re: The Cuts at WVU
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Isn't pretty much any situation of layoffs/cutbacks demonstrations of mismanagement? Only if you view the function of management as being to maximize employment at the firm, which the people hiring the managers generally do not.
you must think that layoffs only occur because of over hiring. i've seen departments that are profitable like the TFA, but because of issues in a different department that is closer to management's interest, other departments are decimated to cover the shortcomings. however, to me, management not recognizing that head count is unrealistic is still a management problem.
No, in fact, I think “overhiring” is mostly based on another misapprehension of management’s function. Hiring rapidly when conditions are favorable and firing rapidly when conditions change isn’t “overhiring” and then corrections, its two different sides of the near-optimal-as-possible management of headcount int the context of capitalism.
Is it bad for workers? Sure, but there’s a reason it’s called “capitalism” and not “laborism”.
Obviously, management makes mistakes. But rapid reductions in staff are not particularly a sign of that.
Re: The Cuts at WVU
#77Speaking as a parent, the state of higher education is shocking. Costs of $300,000 for a 4-year degree ($75K/year for tuition, fees, and housing) is not just possible, it's essentially the norm for many schools that aren't even top-tier. Even state schools will run about $200,000, all-in. God forbid you have more than one child. Universities tout their need-based financial aid, but the cut off is often far below the…
Are you citing in-state or out-of-state figures?
However, the "financial back-up plan" of in-state 4-year universities is not exactly affordable either. In-state cost of UCLA, for example, is $37,385. UC Davis is $38,956 for California residents.
Re: The Cuts at WVU
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
"For example, Mining Engineering has experienced a decline in enrollment, yet this area is critical to the state and the region, and there is unmet occupational demand. Also experiencing similar challenges is the Petroleum and Natural Gas program" Very interesting. The politicians of West Virginia want to prop up the oil and mining industries. Young people do not want careers that destroy the planet. So the solution…
No, mining is actually critical to the state and region, specifically coal, specifically bituminous coal, which isn't used for power generation, but instead in applications that need to be much hotter than what other fuel sources can easily obtain, like steel manufacturing, ~70% of which uses coal blast furnaces. And while you might want to replace those furnaces with something else, there really isn't a great way to…
Re: The Cuts at WVU
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can only imagine that you are trolling, at this point. You understand the concept of profit, right? Let's just do numbers here: * Option A: you have 1mUSD to invest into Department X. * Option B: you have 1.2mUSD to invest into Department X and you get Department Y for free. Option A makes zero sense, logically.
Not trolling. I'm not sure you understand opportunity costs. I have 5m to invest in a department. Investing that 5m in Department A and earn 800k in net revenue. If I invest that same 5m in Department B I can earn 1.4m in net revenue. If I invest in Department A I'm giving up 600k in net revenue.
If anything, it's going to absorb more opportunity cost ramping the department down than to let it continue operating. About the only way your argument would make sense is if they desperately needed the physical resources (offices, desks, etc); but considering they closed down other unprofitable departments, there are plenty available.
Re: The Cuts at WVU
#80Universities drank the kool-ade and thought that if they spent and unbelievable amount of money on administration, student perks and sports teams, that would generate an exponential growth in enrollment. It did not. The WSJ did a decent article about this a few weeks ago. https://www.wsj.com/articles/state-university-tuition-increa... It was hard not to see this coming. Everyone has been talking about how the benefit…
So why is your comment relevant?