Eastern Mennonite University President Susan Huxman sent a school-wide email on Tuesday, Nov. 19 2024 with the subject line “EMU Updates.” In this email, Huxman shared what many students and staff already knew, EMU is currently undergoing financial stress and experiencing declining enrollment. Huxman wrote that EMU has been working to find ways to address these issues and unveiled the plan created to better serve EMU and its students.

The plan, “Positioning EMU for Growth: Proposal for Academic Imaging and Investment,” was summarized in Huxman’s email informing students of two large changes EMU will undergo in the near future: EMU will be closing some of the current undergraduate programs with “historically low enrollment and little anticipated growth either in nationwide enrollment or job prospects” and they will be introducing a two major model which will “allow undergraduate students to better demonstrate their holistic learning to future employers.

While Huxman’s email briefly discussed these changes and why they will be taking place, EMU students were still left with questions regarding these academic changes, some believing that EMU is stepping away from their values and pushing a career-oriented education.

To learn more about these academic changes and to share student reactions to these academic changes, a Weather Vane co-editor spoke with Provost Tynisha Willingham, EMU’s Chief Academic Officer.

Willingham was asked about the two-major model and student’s belief that EMU is leaning away from liberal arts and becoming more career-focused. Rather than calling this new education model career-focused, Willingham shared she considers it discipline focused; she also stated that EMU is currently responding to student trends. 

“We know that when we’re looking at what students say they want [at EMU] and what they leave with sometimes don’t align,” she said. “[We’re] identifying what is it that our students are saying they want when they come to EMU, what is it that society is saying we want in graduates, and what is it that students ultimately choose while they’re here,” she added. 

“When we looked at that data, we noticed that there were a number of majors that students were either saying they wanted at time of entry and then there were a lot of majors that bubbled up to the top that students were leaving with […] And what I would say is that a number of those fell into those disciplinary areas,” Willingham said. 

Those disciplinary areas being, business, nursing, education, engineering, computer science, social work, and biology, many of which don’t fall under the liberal arts umbrella, while the traditional liberal arts majors aren’t seeing as much enrollment and being carried to graduation. 

The two-major model will go into effect Fall 2026, and current EMU students will not have to add the model; however, they can opt-in if preferred. 

Willingham was asked about the academic program closures going into effect. It’s known that some EMU professors have not had their contracts renewed for the upcoming year, leaving students questioning the fate of their programs and education. Huxman’s November email stated that if a program is closed, a teach-out plan will be put in place to allow students to graduate with their major, even if their program ends. 

Willingham was asked how students in closed programs will be able to receive the same standard of education through the teach-out plan if their program professors are no longer at EMU. She shared, “will the teach out plan still give you the knowledge and skills that the curriculum was intended for when you chose that major? Yes, because the teach-out plan still has to be aligned to the outcomes for that major,” she said.

 [The plan] is primarily a look at how many students do you have in the major, where are they in terms of progress towards degree completion, and what is the plan to ensure all of those students get exactly what they need to be able to fulfill the requirements of the major,” Willingham said. 

Willingham was also asked who will be teaching students in the teach-out plan if their professors were not returning to EMU and if those teaching the students will be qualified to teach program specific information. “When we talk about who teaches what course, there are requirements for the expertise that is needed to teach the courses and that is dictated by our accreditor for the university,” she said. There are minimal qualifications that one needs to be able to teach particular courses in particular discipline areas,” she added. 

EMU students should not expect a large announcement stating which programs will be closing this semester. Willingham shared that program closures tend to happen throughout the academic year and current and incoming students will be told if their program is closed when the program officially closes. 

While EMU students are coming to terms with the changes happening on campus and how that will affect them during their educational career, Willingham wants them to know that they are in good hands. “The intention is that students can still graduate on time and that we’re preparing them for life,” she said. “We know that things happen and so we can provide our students who will eventually become our graduates with what they need to navigate ife, and to be engaged citizens, and engaged in what’s happening in the world. I think we’re doing good work.”