University of Iowa Claims It’s Closing Gender, Women’s Studies Department – but It’s Just a Reshuffling

This is why education financing has to be tied to educational outcomes. At a minimum, every university should be required to be a co-signer on any student loans taken on by any student. If the student cannot find gainful employment, and therefore cannot pay back their loans, the university is on the hook. That should help dry up a lot of these zero-value-added “studies” programs.

See Related: Biden Administration Gives Up on Student Loan Bailouts

“Right now, these programs are administered by multiple department chairs and multiple directors,” CLAS associate dean for the arts and humanities, Roland Racevskis, said. “Under this proposed plan, the school would have a single leadership team dedicated to overseeing the operations of the programs.”

Some sanity may be returning, though. In a recent press release, the University of Iowa announced that it will be shuttering its Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies Department.

Much as I love Alaska, I also acknowledge that, deep down inside, I’m still a farm-country kid from Iowa. Iowans are, in my experience, by and large well grounded, sensible folks. Unfortunately, Iowa academics can be just as loony tunes as academics anywhere, and Iowa’s university systems still offer some courses and programs that are the purest of the stuff that I used to shovel when working summers in my uncle’s livestock auction barn.

“Under the proposed plan, the college would close the departments of American Studies and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, as well as the current majors in American Studies and in Social Justice, which have fewer than 60 students combined, and create a new major in Social and Cultural Analysis,” the University of Iowa announced in a press release on Dec. 17.

“We are excited to reposition these programs for the future,” dean of the University of Iowa’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), Sara Sanders, said. “The creation of a School of Social and Cultural Analysis would allow us to build on our considerable legacy in areas that are essential to our mission, while creating more sustainable structures and room for innovative new curricula.” 

source