Queen sacrifice at St. Cloud State University

How can colleges and universities respond to today’s many challenges?

One strategy is to cut: to delete various academic programs, support staff, and faculty. When such axing includes tenure-track faculty I call it a queen sacrifice, borrowing the chess metaphor to recognize the radical nature of the decision. I’ve been documenting these moves, sadly, for years.

Today’s example comes from St. Cloud State University, which announced it would cut a series of academic programs and lay off a group of academic workers.

I’ll outline what I can determine about the story, then reflect on its broader meaning.

According to the local Star Tribune, six programs facing the axe include undergraduate and graduate ones:

The majors to be phased out are philosophy, theater, nuclear medicine technology, real estate and insurance at the undergraduate level, as well as marriage and family therapy at the graduate level.

The human cost involves professors and administrators: “The university will also lay off 23 faculty and 14 staff, which will save more than $4.1 million in the coming year, as well as offer early separation incentives for employees…” I cannot determine the tenure or other status of these people.