Ohio’s Wittenberg University to Eliminate its Music Faculty 

The music faculty at the university has been informed that the department will shut down at the end of the current academic year

Several faculty members of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, were recently informed that their contracts would not be renewed after this year, while students learned that certain academic programs would be discontinued.

According to Springfield News-Sun, a letter to Wittenberg’s students and staff by university leadership revealed that 24 faculty positions will be removed.

The letter adds that the school’s academic major programs in music, music education, German, Spanish, and East Asian studies will be eliminated after the current school year, along with the minor in Chinese. Other removals include some sports teams. 

Additionally, no further declarations of major will be allowed in international business and international studies until further notice “as the Provost and faculty work to see if and how they can be reimagined.”

Overall, 24 full-time equivalent faculty and 45 full-time equivalent staff members will be eliminated. The university states that as some current employees will be assigned to open positions, and some open positions will not be filled, the reductions will impact around 40 individuals.

Wittenberg is a 179-year-old private liberal arts university with 1,288 undergraduate students and 45 graduate students as of fall 2023.

In the 2022/23 academic year, the school recorded a $17 million deficit, which prompted the Board of Directors to fully eliminate its forecasted financial operating losses by the 2027 fiscal year — subsequently leading to the recent cuts.

“Students who have declared majors in the areas above will have a pathway to complete their programs,” said the university’s president Michael Frandsen in the letter. “In some cases, that opportunity will be through or at a partner institution. We are still working to finalize those arrangements and expect to have information before Fall Break.”

Frandsen noted that “the last couple of days have been difficult as we inform colleagues that their positions are being eliminated … I am saddened by the loss of these people and programs from our community,” and that the decisions to cut the jobs of “valued members of our community who make valuable contributions to Wittenberg’s work” were not made lightly.

The current cuts are slightly less than what the university initially proposed in a statement in August 2024, which outlined the reduction of 30 faculty positions, and an increase in online learning models. 

Springfield News-Sun adds that after an early announcement of the planned cuts, 10 to 12 students and faculty members protested near Frandsen’s office. During the protest, the university released an updated email announcing additional cuts. 

“Either I’m going to finish my degree here, at a subpar university, or I’m going to have to transfer, and that'll take extra money and time, potentially extra semesters and it just, it sucks,” said Will Boeck, a music and computer science double major student. “I blame it on the mismanagement of the board over all these years that led to where we are now.”

“[The administration is] taking away the concept of liberal arts that I was told when I was touring colleges,” added Mikayla Myers, a senior majoring in music education. “Luckily I’m graduating, but my goal is to help my underclassmen try and find a place that’s a good fit for them, and if they decide they don’t want to transfer, finding a major for them to complete while the university is still afloat to try and help them live stably.”

“These programs represent key areas of the arts and humanities, and are core to our mission of producing ‘global citizens’ and ‘wholeness of person,’” said Lori Askeland, the American Association of University Professors advocacy chapter president at Wittenberg. “Music brings our community together, and language connects us to other worlds, other worldviews. Many of us are simply devastated by this loss.”

“We recognize that this is a difficult and uncertain time for all of us as we work to fully eliminate forecasted financial losses by fiscal year 2027 by reducing faculty and staff positions,” reads Frandsen’s letter to staff and students. “However, since the start of the budgetary hardship process, the board has had a singular focus: to preserve the best of Wittenberg and ensure the university thrives.”