Due to recent budget cuts, Southeast’s provost Karl Kunkel has been tasked with reorganizing the academic affairs division of the university and has proposed the restructuring of five different academic departments.

The Department of Modern Languages, Anthropology and Geography; the Department of History; the Department of Communication Studies; the Department of Criminal Justice and the Department of Social Work are all affected within the proposals.

Kunkel provided two proposals for restructuring. The first was to split apart the Department of Modern Languages, Anthropology and Geography to create two departments that are merged with the Department of History and the Department of Communications Studies. The two departments would be the Department of Modern Languages and Communications Studies and the Department of History, Anthropology and Geography.

The second proposal was to combine the Department of Criminal Justice with the Department of Social Work.

The proposals were received by the departments on Aug. 23 and 24 and each has 15 days to respond to the proposed changes.

The university is facing a $6.1 million reduction, 9 percent reduction from the state and a $1.8 million cost to continue. The cost for the university to contribute to the Missouri state employment retirement fund went up more than 2 percent, and there was also a 10 percent spike to health insurance premiums for university employees, which the school pays for.

The university would have to come up with $1.8 million just to break even.

“We would like to come out of this budget situation a stronger institution, a more efficient organization, with better opportunities for students and better degree programs,” Kunkel said.

Part of the plan to meet these budget reductions, according to Kunkel, is to reorganize the university divisions to create efficiencies that weren’t there before.

Kunkel’s target spending for academic affairs this year is $495,500.

Kunkel said he has worked closely with college deans to come up with proposals that make the most sense.

The proposed reduction of the two departments would eliminate two department head positions as well as two administrative assistants. In results, the university would save an estimated $50,000 to $75,000 per department.

“We are going to have to decide a process for selecting department chairs. If it looks like the proposal is going to be successful, we would make preparations for doing that,” Kunkel said.

Submitting a proposal and getting it passed follows a procedure of academic restructuring found within the faculty handbook.

Dr. Jim McGill, chairman for the faculty senate, said that the administration is following all policies written in the faculty handbook.

The proposal must be made within the first week of the semester; then after, the departments have 15 working days to respond with concerns or support. Once the departments have responded, the proposal goes through the college council, the dean of the college, the academic council then back to the provost’s office. President Dr. Carlos Vargas will have the final say before taking it forward to the board of regents.

If the proposal reaches the Board of Regents, it will be considered during their meeting in December.

McGill said he believes the proposal will make it to the Board.

Kunkel said the restructuring is not all about reducing expenses, but part of merging departments is about creating arrangements that make sense.

“You want to try to find fields that do have overlap and have common themes,” Kunkel said. “Also by doing that you not only have a department that makes sense, but you also start conversations among faculty that could create opportunities for students that might not otherwise happen.”

The faculty senate requires a discussion of the positive outcomes to the department change, so they can ensure there will be a benefit for the students during restructuring. McGill said the senate thought Kunkel’s proposal made a lot of sense.

One complication of restructuring the Department of Modern Languages, Anthropology and Geography would be the global studies degree, which includes courses from the entire department, including modern languages.

“We do need to think about if it is desirable or undesirable to have a degree program that spans two departments,” Kunkel said.

There have been no decisions made yet regarding that major, however if the proposal passes Kunkel said they would have to discuss the possibilities.

Kunkel, along with the dean’s council, is still looking at every possibility for reducing spending.

“We have made a decision to not just cut across the board,” Kunkel said. “The easy way to fix the budget problem would be that everybody gets a 9 percent cut, but we want to be strategic and continue to enhance our programs.”

According to McGill, the faculty senate seems certain that more restructuring will be needed in the future to compensate for the budget cuts. Over the course of the semester, people will be searching for different proposals to revisit in the Spring semester.

“If a dean or a department head retires, that opens an opportunity for restructuring without someone losing their job,” McGill said.

With a significant amount of university faculty and staff applying for the early retirement incentive, that may open a lot of doors for restructuring in the future.