By: Danica Propst

28 majors that West Virginia University offered were cut on Friday, September 15th along with 143 faculty positions, causing protestors to disrupt the board of governors’ meeting. 

The reason for these cuts can be traced back to the institution’s $45 million budget deficit, which is made no better by declining enrollment over the last decade. A majority of their funding has been put towards recent campus renovations and making tuition more affordable for out-of-state students by offering more scholarship opportunities. 

The most significant cuts were made to foreign languages, as the Department of World Languages was discontinued. This means that those pursuing a major or graduate degree in a foreign language are not able to complete their education. All of the faculty members in this department were let go, causing outrage among students and faculty who were affected by the cuts. The fall semester began with protests from those in the foreign language department that are still ongoing as nothing has been done to remedy the situation. 

Not only was the Department of World Languages affected by the cuts, but other programs were also affected such as the Ph.D. in mathematics, the master’s degree in creative writing, and funding was reduced for graduate programs such as law and engineering. 

Due to the deficit and resulting cuts, faculty voted that they had no confidence in the leadership of President Gordon Gee on September 6th, even though he does not plan to retire until 2025. Gee refuses to appeal to the West Virginia legislature to help in filling their deficit, to the frustration of many faculty members, because he believes that there is no reason to ask since the legislature is unlikely to come to WVU’s aid.

When asked about the direction of the school, WVU Animal Science major Garrett Green responded, “I am uncertain about the future of WVU, even though my major has not been affected yet. I have seen the protestors around campus, and it is cool to see all of these different people gathered for the same cause.” It is Green’s second year at WVU, and he plans to finish all four years of his bachelor’s degree at WVU. 

Although the future of certain programs at WVU is uncertain, many students remain loyal to the Mountaineers and have pride in their institution. Students like Garrett can only hope that the budget is remedied and that West Virginia University can move past this rocky financial period that threatens their education.