Early ’90s officials say process used to grapple with budget crisis then was transparent. When the dust settled, the university had eliminated seven of its departments — including the department of radio, television and film — and the College of Human Ecology. In comparison, officials today are considering merging a number of departments and making other cuts to academics, including increasing class sizes and not retaining non-tenure-track faculty. In the current round of budget cuts, some students, faculty and staff have expressed frustration with what they call a lack of inclusiveness and transparency. While emphasizing that the system used to handle budget cuts almost 20 years ago may not apply to today’s crisis, former campus leaders said they are proud of the inclusive, open environment they say they fostered two decades ago to handle the cuts.
