On Thursday, around 50 Rhode Island College community members gathered at the Rhode Island State House to protest the suspension of over 20 academic programs and concentrations, as well as the consolidation of another 15.
RIC announced the program changes in an April 10 report, which states that the changes are slated to go into effect for the fall 2025 semester. Students currently enrolled in the programs will be able to graduate with degrees “as planned,” according to an April 16 letter by RIC President Jack Warner to the RIC community that was obtained by The Herald. Thursday’s protest followed a previous April 16 rally on RIC’s campus.
The letter adds that the changes should not affect any faculty positions and that the programs were evaluated according to the Academic Program Review Policy established by the Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education.
This policy states that programs must be reviewed at least once every six years “as part of an institution’s normal program review.” Each program with less than 11 undergraduate, six graduate or four doctoral degrees awarded annually for more than three consecutive years will be evaluated for possible elimination.
None of the to-be-suspended programs had more than 13 graduates in total between 2021 and 2024, according to data provided by RIC.
“These suspensions betray RIC’s Mission and Vision, (reducing) student options in critical and relevant academic fields,” reads a press release from Save Our Majors, a newly formed student group created to protest the changes. The press release also alleges that the cuts violate RIC’s Committee on Program Review and Reporting bylaws and the Council on Postsecondary Education’s Academic Program Review Policy.
Hak Kay, a RIC student and protest organizer, said during the rally that students were not consulted in the decision to suspend the programs.
“Why can’t we have a say as students who are paying money to this institution to get educated? Why can’t we get educated and have affordable education for all of these programs?” Kay asked the crowd during a speech.
At the rally, Elisa Miller, chair of the RIC history department, said that “enrollment at RIC is significantly up for the past couple of years.”
“There is no financial crisis and none of these cuts are going to lead to significant financial benefits,” Miller added.
In Warner’s April 16 letter to the student body, he said that the cuts were “a regular part of our housekeeping process.” Warner added that “no one lost their job” and that the college’s budget is already stable and enrollment has increased over the past several years. The school has more than 6,000 students enrolled for the first time since 2019, he also noted.
“It only seems new and novel because it has not been done for so long,” Warner wrote.
In an interview with The Herald, Miller said that department and program heads for under-enrolled programs were made aware of the review in January and “had to submit a report justifying the existence of our program by late February.”
“It was a very top-down process that was rushed,” she said. “The report that they put out justifying these closures was chock full of errors and misperceptions.”
RIC did not respond to questions from The Herald about the review process by press time.
Alicia Pratt, the coalition coordinator at Coalition for a Multilingual Rhode Island, criticized the suspensions of language programs, noting that RIC is the only designated Hispanic-Serving Institution and Minority Serving Institution in the state.
The changes outline suspensions of four modern languages bachelor’s programs, including degrees in Francophone studies, French, Latin American studies and Portuguese. RIC’s master’s of arts in teaching for world languages is also one of the 15 consolidated programs.
“French and Portuguese are not just courses,” Pratt said, adding that Rhode Island hosts one of the largest Portuguese-speaking populations in the U.S.
“They are living languages, spoken in our homes, communities and our workplaces,” she added. “Eliminating these programs ignores our state’s cultural fabric, undermines our education and threatens our state’s economy.”
Pratt called on state leaders “to demand that RIC engage in meaningful dialogue with students, faculty and community stakeholders.” She added that “Now is the time to invest in multilingualism, not dismantle it, because language is not a luxury.”
Ian Ritter is a senior staff writer covering graduate schools and students. He is a sophomore from New Jersey studying Chemistry and International and Public Affairs. When he’s not at the Herald, you can find him playing clarinet or explaining the rules of kickball to confused listeners.
