EDITOR’S NOTE: LTTEs regarding WVU Academic Transformation
From now until Aug. 31, we will open letters to the editor to WVU alumni and current and former staff and faculty, including those who live out of state, for any who would like to comment on WVU’s Academic Transformation. EMAIL submissions to opinion@dominionpost.com. MAIL submissions to: The Dominion Post, 1251 Earl L. Core Road, Morgantown, WV 26505. INCLUDE your name, hometown and phone number for confirmation. Letters should not exceed 300 words. Out-of-state alumni should include their graduation year and degree. Staff/faculty should include their position and years of service.
Instead of cuts, invest in attracting students
West Virginia University is hemorrhaging both money and students. That much is as clear to you and me as it is to whatever governing boards dictate school budgeting and finances.
The solution is simple, as it always has been: Make the quality of life at WVU better, and you will attract more potential students.
Instead of investing the necessary funds in improving mental health resources and recreational facilities, the powers that be have decided to ignore the well-being of those who attend their university in favor of reviewing nearly half of all current programs offered at the school. Limiting what degrees students might pursue will do nothing but deter more prospective students, but since that foresight cannot be calculated on an Excel spreadsheet, WVU is blinded by a desire for instant gratification over gradual improvement.
I graduated with both a Bachelor of Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts, so I took courses from both programs that are safe from the university’s purge and others that are under review. In both instances, I received education from people who were incredibly passionate about their fields and, more importantly, in educating a new generation in subjects that were very important to them.
I am appalled at the notion that a department such as World Languages might face near-annihilation from university higher-ups simply because languages doesn’t make as much money as the biology department (another department that I care for very dearly).
I do hope that WVU looks inward on its decisions of late and changes its mind regarding all of these potential cuts, understanding the ramifications. Every student deserves the right to be educated in the field that they choose, and it is a great shame that people in such high positions would rip that choice away from them.
Camryn Puccio
WVU Class of 2022
Chatham, N.J.
