THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 7, 1994 TAG: 9412070465
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Norfolk State University will drop five, low-enrollment degree programs as part of its restructuring effort, university officials said Tuesday.
The programs, mostly vocational, are associate degrees in secretarial sciences and industrial electronics technology, bachelor's degrees in home economics and recreation and a master's degree in gerontology.
Fewer than five students are awarded each degree annually, Vice President Jesse Lewis said. The programs will be closed next fall, Lewis said, but students already enrolled will be allowed to finish their degrees.
The move is in line with the thinking in Richmond: State education officials have pushed Norfolk State to drop vocational and associate degrees to avoid duplicating the curriculum of Tidewater Community College's new Norfolk campus, which is to open in 1996.
Norfolk State administrators outlined the university's latest restructuring proposal during a meeting of the Board of Visitors, which unanimously endorsed the plan.
NSU was one of six colleges whose restructuring plans were rejected by the State Council of Higher Education last month for a lack of specifics. But the council said last week that it expected to approve NSU's revised plan Dec. 13.
Even so, NSU - and the five other colleges - could face budget cuts of up to 6 percent in the next school year. Gov. George F. Allen will release his proposed budget later this month.
Neither administrators nor board members discussed the threat of budget cuts during the meeting. But afterward, Dr. L.D. Britt, vice rector of the board, said: ``We cannot afford to cut back any more; this is it. We have cut back and restructured as much as any university can and not negatively impact academics.'' State funding for colleges has been cut more than 20 percent since 1990.
The restructuring plan also said:
NSU will increase ``faculty productivity'' by 25 percent by the year 2006. That doesn't mean professors will necessarily teach more courses, Lewis said, but will teach 25 percent more students.
Administrative costs will be cut 1 percent in each of the next five years.
The plan, expected to save the university $8 million over the next 10 years, does not require any layoffs - a point that cheered board member Edward L. Brown Sr.
``In my business, when you talk about restructuring and downsizing, it always has one definition: laying people off,'' said Brown, Atlantic Coast District vice president of the International Longshoreman's Association.
Also at the board meeting, Britt was appointed to a two-year term as the board's new rector. He succeeds Richmond lawyer Alan Fleischer, who is leaving after serving the maximum eight years. by CNB