In an age of declining state appropriations and budget priorities shifting to the next whiz-bang scientific breakthrough, how does a College of Liberal Arts preserve its heart and soul and prepare for a leaner future?
Late Friday afternoon, an eloquent 21-page report arrived in the email of faculty, staff and students in the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts (CLA). Someone forwarded the email to me from a home address. These are sensitive times.
“The Future of the College of Liberal Arts,” an interim report [PDF] prepared by the CLA 2015 Committee, is frank about the outlook: The college’s “budget is shrinking, and it will continue to shrink under nearly every plausible scenario.”
'Pretty good is not good enough'
The report, prepared by a 30-member committee of faculty, staff and students from the Twin Cities campus, lays out 14 goals and recommendations for a smaller, nimbler college that focuses on students yet shares the university's overarching goal to become a top research institution.
“Put another way, and with apologies to the residents of Lake Wobegon, pretty good is not good enough,” according to the report. “CLA does not accept mediocrity, or even pretty good; CLA aims for distinction in everything that we do: teaching and learning, research and discovery, outreach and service.”
The College of Liberal Arts, according to its website, currently is home to 553 tenured or tenure-track faculty, 16,716 students, 45 programs and departments, and countless staff.
In February,
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