More questions remain following UNCG program cuts

Questions remain on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro after the administration cut more than a dozen programs. The move came after a year-long academic portfolio review. 

It was announced earlier this month that 20 undergraduate majors, minors and graduate programs will stop accepting new students as the lengthy wind-down period begins. That process involves teaching out the students currently enrolled in programs to be discontinued.

Last week, members of the dean’s office met with faculty to obtain each department’s teach-out plan and confirmed many, if not all, would no longer be working at the university. And there were unanswered questions: What happens to ongoing, grant-funded research programs? Which of us will be fired? Will health insurance coverage be extended?

Lecturer Stephanie Friede was hired in 2022 in the anthropology department, one of the programs on the chopping block. She taught some 500 students over four semesters and says it will be a loss for them, as well as for her.  

"I think of the classroom as a utopian space in some ways where you get to think about ideas," says Friede. "And it’s not only about if there’re practical implications, but you get to kind of wrestle with the meaning of culture in your everyday life. And for these students, anthropology is very much a lived experience."

Friede's intro to anthropology course for non-majors, where students are taught to appreciate new and different cultures, had been previously offered for 40 years on the UNCG campus. She says that solid legacy was one of the reasons she chose to make the sacrifices needed to thrive in her role.

"I just assumed that it would always be there because it was part of this liberal arts education that gave them the tools for critical thinking," says Friede. "So, when I took it, I worked through a really hard time in my life, like a whole pregnancy and then having an infant at home. But I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't thought that I was setting myself up for something longer term."

UNCG administration officials declined WFDD’s interview request. In a written statement, they said the focus was on teaching current majors in discontinued programs, which will take years. They wouldn’t speak on specific plans until human resource details are developed. 

*Correction: The headline of this story has been updated to clarify that not all faculty may be laid off. According to Kimberly Osborne, the Interim Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications, "some faculty may teach general education courses, some may choose to leave, some may retire, and some may be laid off."