Jessi Rae Morton

News Editor

Alongside ongoing conversations about proposed tuition and fee increases for out-of-state and graduate-level students, the UNC Greensboro community has seen many communications about academic program review (APR). In part due to budgetary concerns, UNC Greensboro began the process of academic program review, also known as academic portfolio review, in the 2022-2023 academic year. A Frequently Asked Questions page about APR, provided by Student Affairs at UNC Greensboro, explains the administration’s definition of APR as a process in which “the faculty, department chairs, deans, and university staff review the performance of each academic program considering factors such as enrollment and student interest/demand, student success and graduation, student credit hour production, scholarly and community distinction and grant funding among other factors.” 

In explaining the reasons for the current APR process, the same page notes that “UNCG has suffered enrollment losses since the pandemic…In addition, the state of North Carolina has changed how it funds UNC System institutions, including UNCG. We also expect continued enrollment challenges due to demographic changes and a competitive higher education market. To remain fiscally responsible, and position the University strategically for the next decade, we are reviewing our academic programs.” 

In response, the UNC Greensboro chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) paid for an independent report on the university’s financial status; the report, prepared by Howard Bunsis, is available online. Bunsis’ analysis suggests that the university is in good shape financially, but UNC Greensboro administrators have contested his analysis, as explained in last week’s report for The Carolinian. When APR rubrics were made available to faculty on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, the UNC Greensboro AAUP issued a Petition Against Program Elimination, which calls for “the immediate cessation of APR in order to maintain UNCG’s academic mission and inclusive excellence.” Furthermore, in posts on its Instagram account on Oct. 26 and 27, 2023, the UNC Greensboro AAUP chapter argues that the current APR process at UNC Greensboro is illegitimate because it is inconsistent with standard APR procedure. 

Different institutions define APR differently, but a Hanover Research report from 2012, published by the American Sociological Association, has a widely used definition. That report explains that “While there is no universally-accepted model or methodology for conducting a program review, three primary elements are commonly employed.” Those three elements are: “An internal, faculty-driven self-study conducted by the institution itself; An external evaluation, conducted by a committee appointed by the institution (typically comprised of academic peers and other specialists); and A comprehensive evaluation of the two studies, resulting in targeted recommendations or an action plan.” The UNCG AAUP chapter’s Instagram post argues that the current APR process at UNC Greensboro is not faculty-led or financially necessary.

Additionally, as Faye Stewart, graduate director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at UNC Greensboro, told Ian McDowell in an article for Yes! Weekly, “Faculty has access to information, including the Academic Program Review rankings, that have been kept hidden from students and the public. Those spreadsheets are available online, but they are password-protected. If the administration wants to be transparent about how programs are being assessed and which programs may be considered for discontinuation, why aren’t they making this information available to students and the wider public?”

While some Academic Program Review and Admin Services Review data and other documents, such as rubrics and public statements, are available online, materials on the Academic Data Dashboard are password protected. The lack of accessibility to certain documents is one factor that has prompted concerned graduate students to organize. Graduate students running the Instagram account @concerneduncggradstudents, created in October 2023 to communicate primarily about APR, have been working with the UNC Greensboro Chapter of the AAUP to promote the petition against program elimination and to organize events, including a graduate student march on Oct. 19, 2023, and a “teach-in” event on Oct. 26. The UNCG Chapter of AAUP has published lists of UNCG programs they characterize as “under threat of elimination,” while @concerneduncggradstudents has been a bit more conservative in their descriptions, sharing spreadsheets when new data was made available on Oct. 23, 2023, and describing the highlighted programs as “at risk.” The shared spreadsheet appears to be one of the password-protected documents.

UNC Greensboro Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam Jr. has responded to student and faculty concerns in meetings, school-wide messaging, and public venues, such as his op-ed for the News & Record on Oct. 20, 2023. In the op-ed, Gilliam writes that “Typically, universities do this every five to 10 years. UNCG has not completed a comprehensive review in well over 15 years,” a statement also included in the FAQs page referenced above. Additionally, communications to students and the public have been clear that “All currently enrolled students can finish their degree as long as they make satisfactory academic progress in their major.” Furthermore, the university is reviewing administrative areas as part of this process.

The Bunsis report and the UNCG AAUP chapter suggest that the university could use its financial reserves to mitigate budget shortfalls, but Chancellor Gilliam argues that “the claim that we can and should use our reserves to protect the status quo is irresponsible. While we continue to use some cash reserves to mitigate reductions, this is clearly not a long-term strategy, especially given the negative enrollment trends analysts expect.”

While some see UNC Greensboro’s APR process as a preventative step, recent extreme measures at other universities have left many faculty and graduate students with valid concerns about the potential outcome. Of these, the most notable were West Virginia University’s extensive cuts. “The state’s largest university will drop 28 of its majors, or about 8%, and cut 143 of the faculty positions, or around 5%. Among the cuts are one-third of education department faculty and the entire world language department,” AP News reported in Sept. 2023. The APR process preceding WVU’s cuts was also conducted by rpk GROUP, the consulting firm currently involved with the APR process at UNC Greensboro.

On Oct. 30, 2023, a Graduate Student Forum and Q&A session with Vice Chancellor Bob Shea and Provost Debbie Storrs regarding APR, and slides from that session are available online. Another Graduate Student Forum with Chancellor Gilliam is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, at 2 p.m. in room 114 of the School of Education Building. 

This ongoing story will continue to develop. All official communications about the APR process will be available on the Reinvention & Innovation website, which includes a Latest Information page, and the UNC Greensboro AAUP chapter will also continue to share timely responses to new information on Instagram and on their website.