U of M's liberal arts program prepares for cuts

The College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota is planning to narrow its focus to prepare for future reductions in funding.

A U of M committee released a report that suggests offering fewer liberal arts programs by 2015 in order to keep the college's core mission strong. The report also recommends raising more revenue, doing more research and increasing cooperation between departments.

Chris Uggen, co-chair of the committee that came up with the broad goals, said the College of Liberal Arts, or CLA, needs to plan for tough budgets over the next few years.

"We can't simply do across the board cuts, year after year after year, without doing some damage to some of our core mission in teaching, research, outreach and engagement," Uggen said. "And so we've got to be creative in rethinking how we're doing what we're doing."

The report on changes in the U of M's liberal arts offerings will be finalized in October after more faculty input is included.