In light of a $10.3 million budget deficit, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville administrators have proposed phasing out the physics major and minor over the next few years.
“This proposal has been carefully considered and developed in accordance with our policy and procedures and in coherence with the relevant collective bargaining agreements,” SIUE spokeswoman Nicole Franklin said. “The process for feedback and additional steps is currently underway.”
The proposal would allow all students currently declared as a physics major or minor — and those starting this fall — an opportunity to complete the program. It also does not eliminate all physics courses “given the important role these courses play in service to other majors,” Franklin said.
Students majoring in biological sciences, chemistry, engineering and pharmacy are all required to take physics courses.
Under the proposal, physics professors would transfer to the chemistry department and teach those classes until roughly 2029, when the major and minor are phased out completely.
After that, university administration projects it will reduce the physics faculty from 10 to five, said Kevin Leonard, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“Nothing is cast in stone at this point,” Leonard said at a Monday meeting with faculty and staff.
Over the next few months, the university administration will consider the feedback and could make a decision as soon as July, Franklin said.
“Making change is incredibly difficult in any organization,” Denise Cobb, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, told the faculty and staff during a sometimes contentious forum.
This process, known in the academic world as “program prioritization process,” is a common one that SIUE and other universities routinely use to evaluate the quality, viability and effectiveness of the programs offered.
It’s one of a myriad of strategies, including early retirement buyouts, that SIUE is using to address the deficit with the goal of balancing its budget by 2027. University administrators had known the shortfall had been looming as operational expenses have increased and enrollment has grown stagnant or declined in recent years.
Cobb said on Monday that university officials had considered scaling back programs before, but that was put on hold during the administration of a previous chancellor.
“We're now at a juncture where we continue as a university community to see challenges to enrollment,” Cobb said
During and after the meeting, the chairs of both the physics and chemistry departments said the university’s proposal was flawed.
“I would say that any university, in my opinion, that does not have a physics program will lose prestige,” said Abdullatif Hamad, professor and chair of the physics department.
In the proposal, university administration cited a low number of students in the major and minor, low enrollment in upper-level courses and the program being flagged previously for problems in 2013 and 2022 reviews. Hamad and his peers dispute the department being questioned in 2013.
He also said the proposal unfairly compared SIUE’s program to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a peer institution since Illinois’ is much larger.
“To cut the physics program because of low enrollment while it's still a money producer is kind of surprising,” Hamad said.
Tonya Wagner, the office manager in the chemistry department, said the university’s proposal did not address some basic logistics, like the fact that she’d need to support 30 faculty over the next few years, when the physics professors transfer over, instead of 20.
Another consideration missed was managing more lab space with the same number of staff, said Eric Voss, professor and chair of the chemistry department.
“I have confidence,” Voss said of being able to negotiate with campus leaders. “I’m a glass-half-full type of person, so I have confidence that we’ll be able to communicate, and, hopefully, they’ll listen to some of our concerns and address them.”
Under the collective bargaining agreement with the faculty union, the administrators have a 60-day window after the proposal was announced to collect feedback and possible counterproposals. From there, campus leadership can make adjustments. If the union doesn’t approve, they can negotiate on the effect of the elimination, said Rachel Tollett, the faculty union’s representative.
The Southern Illinois University board of trustees will make the final decision.
SIUE is not alone among regional schools in having financial and enrollment challenges:
- SIU Carbondale projected a nearly $9.5 million budget shortfall last fall.
- St. Louis University officials said last fall they would need to cut expenses by $20 million.
- University of Missouri system President Mun Choi said the Columbia campus will begin to reduce spending in response to the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts.
- The University of Missouri-St. Louis decided to cut its men’s and women’s track and field teams earlier this month, citing facility and budget considerations and program enrollment trends.
- Fontbonne University announced last year it would close in 2025, citing dwindling enrollment and a shrinking endowment.
