Cal State Dominguez Hills decides not to nix six academic programs

After concerted pushback from faculty, students and alumni, Cal State Dominguez Hills has decided not to eliminate six academic programs that were on the chopping block for months.

Faced with ​a potential $375 million cut in state funding last winter, campus leaders across the CSU system had moved to lay off faculty, shutter athletics programs and end majors.

At Cal State Dominguez Hills, campus leaders considered eliminating art history, earth sciences, geography and philosophy, along with labor studies and “Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding,” which are rare at most campuses.

This week, interim provost Kim Costino informed LAist that the programs will not be eliminated.

“Instead,” Costino added via email: “over the next year, [Cal State Dominguez Hills] will engage in a broad, holistic redesign process that will result in a leaner academic program portfolio that aligns the university’s academic offerings with our strategic plan, the CSU strategic plan, our university mission, the needs of our students and the job market demands of the region.”

In a followup email, campus spokesperson Lilly McKibbin said, “No programs are currently being considered for potential discontinuation.”

“Throughout the process of reviewing our academic offerings,” she added, “faculty and university leaders will consider many options, which could include expanding or consolidating existing programs, launching new ones, developing more interdisciplinary programs, discontinuing some offerings or a combination of these possibilities.”

A community effort

For educators like labor studies professor Stephen McFarland, Cal State Dominguez Hills’ decision to change course for now comes as “a big relief.”

In December, the California Faculty Association rallied against the proposed cuts. If implemented, members said, they wouldn’t just be detrimental to their colleagues but also to students.

In an email, McKibbin had told LAist: “Like all universities, [ours] must continually assess academic programs and invest in those which meet student needs, fulfill job market demands, and advance our mission. The university’s current financial constraints limit our ability to invest in new or expanded programs that could meet those needs.”

Students and alumni also spoke out against the proposed cuts. Noting that more than 60% of students are eligible for federal Pell Grants and that most financial aid awards go to families with incomes below $20,000, critics expressed concern that students from working-class backgrounds would have less access to humanities and social sciences.

Cutting classic majors like art history and philosophy, they told LAist, would be unthinkable at elite universities.

For months, non-tenured faculty in the designated programs navigated the anxiety of losing their employment. (McKibbin said the campus did “not anticipate layoffs of tenured or tenure-track faculty as a result of program discontinuation.") Meanwhile, the campus promised that if the cuts were made, students enrolled in those programs would still be able to finish their degrees at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Labor studies professor McFarland, a CFA executive board member, credits the administration’s about-face to the “quick and rapid action” of faculty, students, alumni and other community supporters. They “really banded together” to make phone calls, send emails, show up to rallies and speak up at meetings, he said, all to convey the message that the programs are “core to any university that claims to be comprehensive.”

“We feel vindicated,” McFarland added. “And we're proud of the community effort that came together to protect these programs.”

To boost enrollment in the labor studies program, McFarland and his colleagues continue to advertise, in person and online.

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Julia Barajas

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LAist

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The professor also believes the campus’ new leadership was central to the decision. Interim provost Costino and interim president Mary Ann Villareal “recognize the value of the humanities,” McFarland said because they come from humanities backgrounds.

But how the relationship between faculty in these departments and the administration pans out remains to be seen.

When it comes to his students, McFarland said, there is a belief that because most of them are the first in their families to go to college, they “ought to be steered into hard science: engineering, computer science, you know, [programs] with a clear career payoff.”

McFarland says he and his colleagues view the university “much differently.”

“We see it as a forum for students to study any subject they want,” he said, “to explore the worlds of creativity and human inquiry — and then decide which career path [to pursue].”