200 Attend Protest Against West Virginia Univ Proposed Cuts To Programs & Faculty; Students' Union

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WVMetroNews, 'About 200 attend WVU cut protest at the Mountainlair,' By Mike Nolting, Aug. 21, 2023 - 6:05 pm. - Ed. 📝

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — More than 200 people came to the Mountainlair Free Speech Zone on Monday to protest proposed cuts to programs and faculty. The academic review has identified 32 programs and 169 faculty cuts. University officials said they have received 19 notices of intent to appeal the proposals before the Friday, Aug. 18 deadline.

Marisa Proco is a 2nd-year Masters student in math on a Masters to PHD pathway, with programs identified to be eliminated. If the cuts are approved, Proco would finish her Masters in the teach-out program and have to search for another PHD program. "That course would not apply to my PHD, so I would have to start the application process for grad schools for my PHD all over again,” Proco said. “I would have to spend hundreds of dollars on application fees.”

Zachary Gilpin has an undergraduate degree in Spanish through the Dept. of World Languages, Literatures, & Linguistics (WLLL), which is identified for elimination, & is a graduate student. Gilpin said that through WLLL and his undergraduate research in Central America, he is able to stay in Morgantown to continue the graduate program. "Well, I want to be a professor, & frankly, up until now, I had a positive view of West Virginia Univ.,” Gilpin said. “But if anyone I knew were to ask me, I would be honest with them & tell them about the loss of opportunity here.”

A 4 -year WVU student majoring in math, Matthew Kolb from Follansbee, is a member of the West Virginia United Students’ Union (WVUSU) & said membership of the group will likely grow because of the event. The WVUSU is now delving into up to 3 years of data & financial information that is being shared with members of the student body. “What we want to do with that research is put it back into the student body to educate them in a way they are not being educated right now,” Kolb said...https://wvmetronews.com/2023/08/21/about-200-attend-wvu-cut-protest-at-the-mountainlair/
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- Also: WVU: West Virginia Univ. Recommends Cutting 169 Faculty Positions, 32 Majors. More Schools, Aug. 11, https://www.democraticunderground.com/10832749

- The Evisceration of a Public University,' By Lisa M. Corrigan, The Nation, Aug. 16, 2023.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016361121