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By Hamish Johnston
If you’re not a regular reader of the University of Idaho Argonaut student newspaper, you may have missed this article about the possibility that the university’s undergraduate physics programme may be axed.
It seems that physics is one of 41 programmes identified for a possible chop by the university’s Program Prioritization Process (PPP) — which was initiated in 2005 to “increase the overall financial and academic efficiency of the university”, according to the Argonaut.
Bizarrely, the article suggests that the PPP plan involves getting rid of undergraduate physics in order to strengthen the graduate physics offering. I’m guessing that this is a way of trying to hold on to physics faculty members once the axe has fallen on undergraduates.
The Argonaut quotes physics undergraduate Alex Natale as saying “I don’t know how they could cut physics from the College of Science and still be the College of Science”.
I don’t know either…ironically, the University of Idaho’s sports teams are called the Vandals — and they are not the only ones causing damage in Idaho it seems.
I am a member of the UI Physics Department. Thank you so much for publicizing our struggle as we do our best to oppose this program closure. I would be very interested in hearing of others who have fought such similar closures successfully, or unsuccessfully. This is a disturbing trend that must be stopped!