Ohio University will eliminate or combine 32 programs by Aug. 15 in response to the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, also known as Senate Bill 1.
The law requires public universities to evaluate academic programs and eliminate those that graduate fewer than five students annually on average over a three-year period. The mandate falls under Ohio Revised Code section 3345.454, “Retrenchment and Program Elimination.”
The university’s Board of Trustees must approve the cuts and may request waivers for certain programs before July 15. If approved by the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the waived program may continue temporarily while working to meet enrollment standards.
“The state provided specific guidance for programs that could be submitted for a waiver, including alignment with particular workforce needs in the state or pending curricular changes,” Dan Pittman, senior director of communication, wrote in an email.
Pittman said students who are currently enrolled in the programs set to be eliminated or combined will be able to complete their degree requirements, while incoming students who applied for any of the programs will receive information on alternative options in the coming weeks.
Four programs are awaiting waiver decisions, while three have already been denied, according to OHIO Today.
Student Senate President-elect Donald Theisen, a junior studying economics and political science, voiced opposition to the law, arguing it limits academic opportunities.
“There's so much value even to programs that are small,” Theisen said. “Having those departments, having those professors, having classes that other students can take, even if they're not going to graduate with that degree.”
The Senate plans to support student organizations affected by the changes. Theisen said campus spaces eliminated by SB 1, including the Pride Center, Women’s Center and Multicultural Center, will be a focus moving forward.
Jamie Miller, programs and organizing manager of United Campus Ministry, said the cuts have already displaced some student organizations.
“What (UCM is) trying to do is we're trying to make a third space for pretty much anybody,“ Miller said. “Everyone needs one, especially after SB 1 closed down a lot of minority centric places at the university. We have been kind of a hub for where those student organizations are going.”
Miller said he encourages any student who feels passionately about the cutting of programs to get involved with organizations and not give up.
"I was a student only a couple of years ago, so it’s very easy to feel mired in helplessness and doom, because doomscrolling is real and it's what they want you to do to engage with the program or the online medium,” Miller said.
Most of the affected programs will still offer related minors, according to OHIO Today. The Associate of Applied Science in Equine Studies and the Bachelor of Science in Education in Family and Consumer Sciences Education in Teaching will not have minor options.
The Ohio Student Association’s OU chapter formed in response to SB 1, according to Senate Vice President-elect Mark Vitelli.
Vitelli said concerns about program cuts have already surfaced among students, including those in the Bachelor of Music Therapy program.
The Ohio Student Association has criticized SB 1 as “one of the most controversial, extremist, and unnecessary anti-higher education bills in the country.”
“Senate Bill 1 has stripped us of our campus homes, centers, scholarships, programs, and majors,“ OSA wrote in an Instagram post. "Our universities were silent. Join us in showing admin: Students are watching,”
