Department of Music, Theatre & Dance Files Formal Response to Retrenchment Plan

The Department of Music, Theatre & Dance has submitted a detailed response to Commonwealth University's proposed retrenchment, laying out in stark terms what the elimination of faculty positions would mean for students, accreditation, and the future of the program.

The document, prepared by department faculty and reviewed during an emergency State M&D meeting on September 22, calculates that the proposed cuts would effectively eliminate 4 regular full-time faculty positions plus all temporary faculty—a far greater impact than the 3.14 FTE number might suggest.

Key findings from the response:

• 39% of music majors (44 of 113 declared students) face delayed graduation or no path to completing their degree

• 75% of theatre majors have no viable path to graduation under the proposed cuts

• NASM accreditation would be lost, eliminating the BM degree

• PDE teacher certification would end, cutting off the pipeline of music educators for Pennsylvania schools

• 8 high-enrollment general education sections (~100 students each) would be eliminated

  
  

The document was sent to Dr. Boswell, Dr. Kiec, and President Osgood. We are awaiting a response.