Other cost-cutting measures at NWC include early retirements and a reduction in force

Three programs could be eliminated at Northwest College, along with six positions at the college. In addition, 17 early retirement applications are recommended for approval as NWC leaders work to cut expenses for the next school year.

In materials for Monday’s meeting of the NWC Board of Trustees, NWC President Stefani Hicswa recommended eliminating the college’s journalism program, the NWC television and radio broadcast program and the farrier business program.

Hicswa also recommended approval of 17 of the 18 applications for early retirement submitted by college employees last month. The names of those employees were not released.

The special early retirement offer applied to employees who have worked full-time at Northwest for at least 10 years.

In addition, she recommended a reduction in force for six classified/professional staff:

• Two positions in instruction — one in extended campus and another in the Life and Health Sciences Division.

• One position in institutional support, college relations.

• One position in auxiliaries, residence life.

Hicswa said the decision to eliminate programs was made strictly by an economic analysis that is detailed in a report for board members.

For programs, that analysis included cost vs. revenue, the number of majors in the program, job prospects for students and other funding sources.

Hicswa said Wednesday that those and other budget-cutting measures identified so far will reduce the college’s spending by a total of $2.6 million for the 2016-17 budget year.

She said the decisions to recommend three program eliminations and a reduction in force were strategically sound.

However, state revenue projections continue to fall, and Gov. Matt Mead’s call for state agencies to cut another 8 percent from their budgets means that Northwest College’s expenses still must be cut by another $1.3 million for a total cut of $3.9 million, Hicswa said. That is nearly 17.5 percent of last year’s budget of $22.3 million.

“When I received notification April 22nd from the governor of additional reductions, it was clear that anticipated expenditures for personnel would exceed anticipated revenue,” she wrote in her report to trustees.

Journalism instructor Rob Breeding had previously raised concerns that the journalism program in general, and his position in particular, was targeted because of news stories that appeared in the student newspaper, the Northwest Trail, which were critical of college administration.

But Hicswa said she didn’t make the decision to recommend ending the program until Monday morning.

“I received a report on Sunday from Gerry (Giraud, vice president for academic affairs), and I didn’t open it until Monday, she said. “No decisions were made prior to that. I can state that the decision is based on the financial analysis.”

Breeding said he learned of the recommendation to eliminate the journalism program Monday.

“This is really a sad and disappointing thing for Northwest College,” he said Wednesday. “A free and independent student newspaper is a part of the lifeblood of higher learning. You cannot replace that with a club.”

Mark Kitchen, vice president for public relations at the college, told Inside Higher Ed in an email that “(Hicswa’s) intentions are to retain the student newspaper, The Northwest Trail, assuming students remain interested in doing so.”

In response to a follow-up question about who would oversee the student newspaper in the absence of a journalism program, Kitchen said, “At this early stage, no decisions have been made.”

Breeding said, “I hope the trustees reflect on this and make a different decision on Monday, for Northwest College and the rest of the community.”

Hicswa said program analyses will continue, because more cuts will be necessary. Though needed, those decisions are difficult to make, she said.

“These are people’s lives, and I am just so, so sad,” she said. “No college president ever wants to cut any quality program, and I’m recommending three for elimination. It’s heartbreaking.”