University reverses controversial liberal arts cuts

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is reversing a controversial downsizing plan announced in November that would have eliminated 13 majors and squeezed its humanities offerings. Instead, it hopes to restructure the programs to be more interdisciplinary and workforce-oriented, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.Around two dozen faculty resignations and retirements in the wake of the initial news helped to avoid the cuts, which themselves were brought on by slumping enrollment and a projected $8 million budget deficit.Plans to restructure the curriculum include tying the history degree — one of the proposed cuts — to the university's School of Education and other degree tracks, and as well as adding a design school. UW-Stevens Point's plan to streamline its curriculum and broaden its reach reflects a pattern familiar in the last decade on large campuses hoping to keep their offerings current and themselves fiscally sound, as well as at small colleges that are often making a bid for survival.