All N.C . State students received an email containing a link to Chancellor Randy Woodson’s realignment plan March 14. During the following days, students of various undergraduate and graduate programs listed under review realized the possibility their academic plans and majors may require drastic revision in the semesters to come. Chandler Thompson, the recently elected student body president, voiced her desire to preserve the academic integrity of N.C. State despite the inevitable realignment. She and Woodson will work together to achieve the best possible solution to the budget cuts.

North Carolina’s state budget cuts for public universities could result in thousands of cut classes across the 16 campuses. This translates to roughly 1,000 classes eliminated at N.C. State. The chancellor’s current response to the 15 to 20 percent reduction in education funding is adequate, but is far from ideal. Though no situation will appease each individual student, the proposed revisions will only aggravate the pre-existing graduation and class enrollment issues already present at the University.

According to the U.S. News & World Reports College Comparisons survey in fall 2010, only 37 percent of students at the University graduate in four years. Compared to other state universities in the U.S., this rate is among the lowest. Cutting classes and faculty will only delay students’ graduation and cause the four-year graduation rate to drop further.

Thompson plans to get students involved in the budget decision process. Her role is to make sure the students’ views are represented in the realignment plan. The chancellor’s proposed plan outlined four basic areas of realignment and how to best implement these recommendations. These areas include administrative positions, academic programs, business services and review of organizational structures.

The administrative consolidation portion of the plan seems facilitative. This plan merely consolidates many facets of student life and eliminates a few administrative positions. The business service and organizational realignments also appear practical. It is the academic program recommendations that emerge unnecessary even in the face of the current budget situation.

The chancellor flagged 30 undergraduate programs for “further evaluation.” The criteria for choosing these programs were enrollment, number of applications, degrees awarded, SAT scores and selectivity. However, the major programs targeted were agriculture and food science programs, environmental programs, language, multidisciplinary and historically oppressed group studies.

Agricultural and environmental programs are imminent in our society. These programs explore the issues our generation and future generations will have to face, and ways to tackle the emerging problems and provide for ourselves sustainably. Language studies are also essential for a globalizing world. German is ranked the tenth most prominent language in the world by number of speakers. With French-speaking Canada right at our border, a French education in the U.S. is definitely useful. Programs like African American studies and women’s studies explore how prejudice emerged in our society and how we can move toward a less discriminatory future.

The programs targeted are essential to maintaining the integrity of the University. Academics is the most important reason for attending a college, and it would be prudent to make cuts from all other aspects of social life on campus before attacking the educational programs. Increasing class size and eliminating classes that have not been taught for many years are excellent measures for reducing our budget.

All programs at the University should be evaluated along these measures, but not on criteria such as SAT scores. The current method results in marginalizing the quality of our University. To best maintain the integrity of the University, as Thompson put it, the chancellor and our student body president should work together to exhaust all other options before making cuts in classes and programs.