Green River College administrators have identified 11 programs that could be eliminated in an effort to close an up to $4.5 million budget deficit.
The programs facing possible cuts are business technology evening courses at the Kent Station campus, fingerprinting certification, design drafting, drama, Montessori track of early childhood education, parent education, German, French, geography, occupation therapy assistant and study skills.
A letter from Green River President Eileen Ely was sent to faculty who work in the affected programs on Wednesday.
The proposed cuts would save the college $1.2 million, Green River spokeswoman Allison Friedly said.
Five tenured faculty, one tenured-track faculty member and a program director could be affected by the cuts. If their programs are cut, faculty members could teach other courses at the college, Friedly said.
Faculty members have until June 10 to submit suggestions to save the programs.
“They can either reduce their budgets or build enrollment, depending what the issue is with each program,” Friedly said.
Per faculty contract, any time positions could be eliminated, there is a 30-day comment period to make recommendations.
The college went through the process last spring when four programs – auto body, carpentry, geographic information systems and parent-child education – faced elimination. Carpentry and parent-child education were spared after faculty came up with ways to reduce expenses, but auto body and geographic information systems were cut.
The latest programs were selected “based on a number of factors that may include, but are not limited to, reduction of program demand, declined enrollments, low entry job wages, job demand rate, number of students impacted and impact on ability to complete,” according to Ely’s letter.
The letter states that the Program Prioritization Process, which the college began in the fall, was not used to determine what instructional programs could be cut.
Faculty and students have criticized the PPP, holding protests and walkouts in recent weeks over its use. Students said they were not included in the prioritization process, and faculty said the process was outside of their contract. Participation in the PPP was optional for faculty. Programs that chose not to take part were placed in the bottom quintile.
The PPP will be used to determine where cuts are made in student services and intuitional support, Friedly said.
The College Council – which is made up representatives from various areas of the college including students, faculty, staff and administrators – will be presented the findings of the PPP on May 24 and make recommendations to administration by May 31.
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