Cash-Strapped Wittenberg U. Envisions a Future With Far Fewer Faculty and Staff

Wittenberg University likely can’t continue operating much longer without deep budget cuts. But the kinds of cuts being considered at the small Ohio institution are causing faculty and some alumni to argue that closure might be better.  A plan, put forward by the university’s president, Michael L. Frandsen, and its board in late July, proposed eliminating 60 percent of full-time faculty and about a quarter of noninstructional staff, and relying more heavily on online course-sharing to teach students. In a three-page memo, Frandsen described the measures as “an innovative model” that would “maintain the vast majority of existing programs via hybrid learning.” Wittenberg, which enrolled about 1,300 students in the fall of 2023, has traditionally served as a liberal-arts college, and also offers programs in engineering, finance, and health sciences.