The Iowa Board of Regents approved the termination of two programs within the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Thursday.
The Regents approved the UI’s request to terminate the Bachelor of Arts in Social Justice degree and the Bachelor of Arts in American Studies during their meeting. All students currently enrolled in the major will be able to complete their studies.
Regent Christine Hensley, appointed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in September 2024, expressed concern regarding student letters the regents had received regarding the elimination of these programs.
Hensley said some of the student letters referenced an unfair process in decision-making.
“I would just like to make sure that students understand this has gone through a specific process and that this is not something that is taken lightly,” Hensley said.
Hensley suggested providing more information on the financial impact of each of the programs.
“It is really very vague and very general, the fact that we are not replacing two faculty members,” Hensley said.
Bachelor of Arts in Social Justice
The Bachelor of Arts in Social Justice has been a UI program through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences since 2016.
The BA incorporates topics ranging from history and literature to health education and gender, women’s, and sexuality studies, looking to understand conditions related to personal and political change while focusing on the history of social movements.
The university is requesting the termination of the Bachelor of Arts degree following the loss of two faculty members in 2022 who had originally implemented the program at the UI.
Tanya Uden-Holman, associate provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of the University College said since then, the program has been short-staffed, and the UI has elected to keep the positions vacant due to needs in other departments.
Additionally, in recent years, the number of students enrolled in the major has declined, with the highest number seen in 2021 with 55 students. In the current 2024-25 academic year, 24 students are in the major.
With lacking faculty members to teach the required courses for the 39-semester-hour degree and low enrollment, the UI will no longer accept new students into the major.
Uden-Holman said the program has since been relying on adjunct faculty and guest lecturers to teach required courses for the major.
“It is anticipated that a modest amount of resources of overall cost savings will result from the reduced expenses for adjunct faculty and guest resources,” Uden-Holman said.
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Regent David Barker inquired about the reason for terminating the two programs, asking whether the decision was made based on “declining student and faculty interest” and not on “any kind of neglect” of these programs by the university.
The degree is offered through the UI’s Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies department, which the UI proposed closing in December.
The university proposed the creation of a new School of Social and Cultural Analysis to replace the department, which was later rejected by the regents Tuesday.
According to a brief editor’s note on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences website, the Regents Academic Affairs Committee rejected creating the new school and the new Bachelor of Arts degree in Social and Cultural Analysis before Thursday’s meeting.
Regent Barker said this proposal was originally proposed alongside the shuttering of other departments and recommended the university gather enrollment trends from those areas of study.
Bachelor of Arts in American Studies
In addition to terminating the social justice degree, the UI received approval to terminate the Bachelor of Arts in American Studies.
The BA is offered through the UI’s Department of American Studies, founded in 2000, and recorded its largest number of students enrolled in the major in 2021. The program is a 33-semester-hour program focused on the study of culture and the contemporary world through media studies, racial and ethnic studies, and more.
The university cited low enrollment in its decision to end the major, following just six students enrolling in fall 2024.
Current students who have declared themselves as an American Studies major can continue in the major and receive their BA.
Courses offered through the major will be offered within other majors and termination of the program is said to not have an impact on the workforce, Uden-Holman said.