Students and faculty are worried about the future of specific University departments and programs due to rumors regarding reduced funding from administration.
The Editor-in-Chief of the Roddey McMillan Record interviewed the Winthrop Provost, Dr. Peter Judge, to gain clarity on whether there is truth to these rumors circulating around campus on September 19, 2022
When there are rumors concerning the status of programs on campus, students tend to gravitate toward their professors to find out if these rumors are true. Many students feel them to be their only line of communication on University decisions. Judge explains that faculty do not always know everything going on with these decisions.
“Students shouldn’t always take a musing by a faculty member [as fact]… sometimes they don’t have the right picture,” Judge said. “And we want to be transparent, we want to be honest, you know, we’re not hiding anything. Sometimes it just takes time to figure out what we’re going to do and then to communicate it.”
Judge explained that the budget reduction process is not something that happens quickly, but is relatively long and complicated.
“We have had to cut in some places, we have had to cut the numbers of courses offered because we have to sort of reduce our number of adjuncts,” Judge said, noting that though it was happening, it was not a “tremendous amount” by his measure. “We have also had a number of (full-time) professors who have resigned because they found other jobs. We are in the process of determining how many of those people we can replace.”
The hiring process for new faculty at Winthrop is also a complicated process. The position has to be approved and the budget has to be checked to ensure that the University can hire someone new.
Although Winthrop has a reduced number of faculty, Judge explains that there are no current plans to cut back on any existing programs at Winthrop.
“We are actually talking about ways that we can add more interesting, exciting programs for students”, Judge said. “It may not mean eliminating a program, but it may mean talking about how we can better deliver, you know, that maybe we can combine a couple of programs to make it even more dynamic.”
Judge, President Serna and other administration members want to ensure that the students know that they are being honest and realistic.
“The University seems dedicated to restructuring in a way that is going to serve the students and best make use of resources,” Judge said. “I think getting that message out there will aid you all in rebuilding some of that lost trust between the students and the University.”