New: @tamusystem board has directed A&M to eliminate a LGBTQ studies minor, along with 51 other minor and certificates, due to low enrollment. Faculty say they weren’t involved in the review process, accusing the school of using inaccurate data & caving to political pressure

— Kate McGee Balagia (@McGeeReports) November 7, 2024

I'll try and find the other programs on the block

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/critics-fear-politics-drove-texas-a-ms-decision-to-cut-52-academic-programs-including-lgbtq-studies/ar-AA1tHrKp

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Those include minors in global health, Asian studies, global culture and society, petroleum engineering, geophysics and LGBTQ Studies. The certificates include ones in transportation planning and diversity for the architecture school; business economics; Latino mental health; subsea engineering; investment banking; and performing social activism in the College of Performing Visual and Fine Arts.

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The world is healing.

Less liberal arts, more STEM. I say this as a liberal arts grad.

It's encouraging that they're getting the axe for lack of enrollment.

This. We need our children to have functional degrees.

Just look in the agenda on the regents website. It will show what the recommendation was and then what the ultimate decision is.

Getting rid of majors and minors due to lack of students is something that is done by every school in the state every year and the Higher Ed Board has lists from all schools.

https://www.tamus.edu/regents/meetingmaterials/

It seems like the worm is finally turning on all of this bull****

I believe they are required to eliminate degree programs due to poor enrollment figures over a period of time. This was discussed a few weeks ago. The impacted colleges are aware and did not challenge the change.

hunter2012 said:

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Less liberal arts, more STEM. I say this as a liberal arts grad.

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Same here! I wish I pursued a STEM degree.

The Faculty Senate needs to realize that they do not run the university.

A lot of Ags aren't donating until the crazy gets corrected. Money talks!

I'm sad to see it go.

I like seeing libs waste their money on worthless degrees, especially at A&M. As long as they don't get loan forgiveness, i say please get every worthless degree you want libs!

Who cares if faculty wasn't involved. They just teach and don't have a clue how to run an organization. It's why they teach.

Rapier108 said:

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The Faculty Senate needs to realize that they do not run the university.

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The BOR just told them this exact thing.

dmz233 said:

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hunter2012 said:

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Less liberal arts, more STEM. I say this as a liberal arts grad.

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Same here! I wish I pursued a STEM degree.

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Hey Faculty Senate, state tax payers and tuition pays the bills. They need to quit thinking they are smarter than everyone else in the room. Academia is such a bubble.

hunter2012 said:

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Less liberal arts, more STEM. I say this as a liberal arts grad.

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Not only that but hopefully removing these bs programs forces kids to really decide if they should even be in college if these are the studies they think matter.

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President Mark A. Welsh III suggested that the regents bring the process back to the Faculty Senate for approval, but the regents said in the resolution that they believed the university received sufficient input, including from deans, department heads and other faculty.

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Red flag for Welsh and his "leadership".

hunter2012 said:

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Less liberal arts, more STEM. I say this as a liberal arts grad.

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Yep, focus on STEM, Agriculture and Business.

Eliminate all Liberal Arts from the main campus, that's what the smaller schools in the system should be used for

MAROON said:

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President Mark A. Welsh III suggested that the regents bring the process back to the Faculty Senate for approval, but the regents said in the resolution that they believed the university received sufficient input, including from deans, department heads and other faculty.

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Red flag for Welsh and his "leadership".

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Yeah that isnt good.

We discussed this here like a month ago.

I cannot find many opinions on this thread that I disagree with quite frankly, and I'm a former grad school instructor here.

Ryan the Temp said:

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We discussed this here like a month ago.

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https://texags.com/forums/16/topics/3492922

"due to low enrollment".
Not because they were ridiculous to begin with.

I hope A&M puts ethics and morals as a respected university over chasing the cheap dollar.

Who?mikejones! said:

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Those include minors in global health, Asian studies, global culture and society, petroleum engineering, geophysics and LGBTQ Studies. The certificates include ones in transportation planning and diversity for the architecture school; business economics; Latino mental health; subsea engineering; investment banking; and performing social activism in the College of Performing Visual and Fine Arts.

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Please tell me this is spellcheck.

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Those include minors in global health, Asian studies, global culture and society, petroleum engineering, geophysics and LGBTQ Studies. The certificates include ones in transportation planning and diversity for the architecture school; business economics; Latino mental health; subsea engineering; investment banking; and performing social activism in the College of Performing Visual and Fine Arts.



Am I misreading this or is demand for O&G majors in that much decline? A lot of it is digital now and moving to machine learning so I get it. Just sad to see those get nixed.

How will we survive without LGBTQ+ experts?

Terrific.

v1rotate92 said:

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How will we survive without LGBTQ+ experts?

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I see what you did there, but I'll offer the response I wrote on the other thread:

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I don't see a full minor or certificate program being useful outside of academia or niche programs like LGBTQ community support resources, which do not exist in high numbers across the US.

I will, however, say there are many aspects of LGBTQ issues and culture that are worthy of academic study. When I was a student at A&M taking a public opinion class at the Bush School for my POLS degree, I wrote a 21-page paper examining the development of public opinion as it relates to gay rights issues throughout history across a wide array of demographic categories, including age, race, religion, and political affiliation. It turned out to be a fascinating and enlightening experience to do all that research.

That being said, there are generally plenty of opportunities for students to explore these issues within the context of courses that are already available to them, particularly "independent study."

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C@LAg said:

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GCRanger said:

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Am I misreading this or is demand for O&G majors in that much decline? A lot of it is digital now and moving to machine learning so I get it. Just sad to see those get nixed.

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i read that as it would be discontinuing the MINORS program. Not the MAJORS program, not enough people looking for a PE minor.

but I could be entirely wrong in that regard.

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You're not wrong. A lot of people are misunderstanding these programs to be MAJORS programs, which is driving most of the (recreational) outrage.

Burrus86 said:

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A lot of Ags aren't donating until the crazy gets corrected. Money talks!

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I really hope that's what's happening here, because I am one of them.

ABATTBQ87 said:

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hunter2012 said:

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Less liberal arts, more STEM. I say this as a liberal arts grad.

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Yep, focus on STEM, Agriculture and Business.

Eliminate all Liberal Arts from the main campus, that's what the smaller schools in the system should be used for

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I'm doing pretty well with my A&M liberal arts degree.