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UDC Cuts Will Eliminate Jobs, Degree Programs

By: Patrick Madden // October 23, 2012
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One-fifth of UDC's degree programs will be eliminated to cut costs, according to school officials. 
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One-fifth of UDC's degree programs will be eliminated to cut costs, according to school officials. 

More than 100 jobs will be eliminated from the University of the District of Columbia over the next few months as part of the university's "right-sizing" plan.

The mandate to cut costs at D.C.'s only public university will be polarizing and painful, UDC Board of Trustees Chair Dr. Elain Crider told the D.C. Council Monday. But it should be embraced, she added.

"The most distasteful part of this for me: people are going to lose their jobs, 110 people," she said. 

In late September, the trustees approved a plan to cut more than $8 million out of the university's budget. UDC President Allen Sessoms also testified Monday at the DC Council about the strategy.

As part of the effort, the school will eliminate one-fifth of its degree programs, Sessoms explained.

"We will restructure our academic programs, including the elimination of degrees that lack sufficient demand and workforce relevance," he said. 

The plan also calls for closing down the city's community college campuses — spread throughout the city — and centralize the community college offerings to the UDC campus in Northwest D.C.

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