UW System President suggests universities with high numbers of low income students should shift away from liberal arts – Wisconsin Examiner

UW System President Jay Rothman suggested in an email to campus chancellors that they should consider cutting liberal arts programs at schools that serve a large number of low income students, the UW-Madison student newspaper the Daily Cardinal reported this week.

In the email, in which Rothman lists a number of suggestions campus leaders can make to deal with declining revenues and stagnating state support, he said campuses should seek a long-term path to return to financial stability.

Consider shifting away from liberal arts programs to programs that are more career specific, particularly if the institution serves a large number of low-income students, Rothman wrote.

The email, which Rothman sent in early September, was revealed after a number of cuts have been made across the UW System, including to schools that predominantly serve low income students. This fall, the system announced that it would be shutting down in-person instruction at two of its two-year campuses in Fond du Lac and Washington counties. That announcement came after the two-year campus in Richland County shut down this spring.

Make the painful cuts and adjustments at one time and then move on, Rothman said in another suggestion.

On the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) Rothman denied that he was pushing campuses to cut liberal arts programs and attacked the Daily Cardinals reporting, while criticizing the students at one of the schools hes responsible for because they quoted him directly.

Let me be crystal clear: I have not asked our universities to move away from liberal arts programs, he wrote. I have repeatedly stated that the liberal arts develops critical thinking and problem solving skills vital to a knowledge economy and to winning the war for talent. I am a product of the liberal arts, and I am deeply disappointed by the mischaracterization of my communication with chancellors by the [Daily Cardinal], both in its egregiously false headline and the framing of its story.

The Daily Cardinal story linked to the email in which Rothman suggested shifting away from liberal arts programs and quoted directly from its contents.

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UW System President suggests universities with high numbers of low income students should shift away from liberal arts - Wisconsin Examiner