By Martin Kemper ’21, staff writer

In the face of impending budget cuts, students’ concerns of future opportunity, departing faculty and institutional changes loom large.

Administrative officials and the LVC Student Government held a budget information session on Tuesday, Oct. 2, with the intention of addressing student concerns and clearing misconceptions and rumors about the coming budget cuts. Much of the session was devoted to explaining LVC’s financial troubles and explaining the preliminary decision to cut the French, German, philosophy and religion majors.

In a Q&A portion of the session, students voiced concerns ranging from the availability of course offerings to the morale and wishes of the faculty that will be affected.

“My biggest concern is with faculty morale,” Gabrielle Cressman, a junior economics major, said. “Not adjusting annually for cost of living is frankly not good. I think that will eventually push faculty away.”

Additionally, the prospect of cutting additional majors in the future shapes the way some students view LVC and its commitment to liberal arts education.

“It seems like we are cutting a variety of majors and focusing on one specific path.” LaElla Dickerson, a senior criminal justice major, said referring to the growth of and focus on health sciences. “We need to restructure the College and not call ourselves liberal arts, if that is what we are going to do.”

While still in the planning phase, the budget task force will begin to implement policy and fiscal changes beginning fall semester of 2019.

Students seeking additional information about the impending academic cuts can find it here.