Kyle Holody, School of Media and Communication graduate student, said he’s one of the lucky ones.

Soon to be a Ph.D. graduate, Holody secured a tenure track job to teach at Coastal Carolina University this fall.

Holody said he unfortunately fears other Ph.D. graduates’ futures may be much less certain.

“I signed that contract before the decision was made by the deans to recommend our program for closure,” Holody said.

On April 14, various college deans recommended 14 graduate programs to be closed, suspended or reoriented starting fall 2012.

The change was partially in response to a $9 million reduction in the graduate scholarship budget for the next two years, said Graduate Dean Tim Messer-Kruse. Academic quality, program sustainability and focus of mission were primary criteria considered when making selections, he said.

For graduate students like Holody, the recommendations create uncertainty, even if the decision isn’t final, he said.

“We’re all concerned about what this will do for our degrees in the future,” Holody said. “Is it going to tarnish it? It’s been implied that our members and students are of lower quality than other schools on campus. That’s an insult, and we haven’t been able to properly defend ourselves.”

The Ph.D. in Media and Communication, with 51 students, is the largest program recommended for closure. Simon Morgan-Russell, College of Arts and Sciences dean, said no school has responded as strongly.

To date, more than 1,200 people worldwide have signed an online petition protesting the deans’ recommendation. The petition was posted on www.signon.org by Victoria Ekstrand, assistant professor from the Department of Journalism and Public Relations.

“To make a decision to remove or eliminate a program is a tough thing to do, which is why no one wants to do it, because it really affects people’s lives,” Morgan-Russell said. “There have been a lot of negative reactions directed at the deans for making the decision.”

Sung-Yeon Park, assistant professor from the Department of Telecommunications, hosted a presentation in 121 West Hall on Thursday to address concerns expressed by several graduate faculty members within the School of Media and Communication. More than 30 people attended the event, titled “Framing of the SMC as ‘poor quality’ program.”

Park, as well as other faculty members, said the deans’ decision was primarily based on inaccurate Graduate Record Examination scores and outdated data from the National Research Council. The data doesn’t reflect recent changes to the School of Media and Communication, including adding the Department of Telecommunications, she said.

The NRC data was reviewed while making the decision, Morgan-Russell said, but was only one of a variety of sources reviewed.

“The data submitted is several years old now because the study took so long to compile,” he said. “I know we’ve been accused of cherry picking data, but sometimes in response to that, other cherries have been chosen. You can’t do the same thing when you’re trying to refute that. We tried our best to look at these things from multiple perspectives.”

Provost Ken Borland said graduate program review has been taking place since as early as 2007, but became more focused this academic year, using criteria “developed in coordination with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee in 2009.”

“The deans had economic considerations in mind also, but they were primarily working with those criteria,” he said. “We want to be good, fiscal stewards of academic quality.”

Terry Rentner, School of Media and Communication director, said she was “blindsided” and was never approached with a direct conversation about her school’s Ph.D. program prior to the recommendations. She would like the opportunity to address what she said has been “devastating and humiliating to students.”

“In the true spirit of shared governance and transparent decision making, we deserve to be heard,” she said. “We believe that, together, we can find solutions that will satisfy the University’s need to reduce costs while preserving our strong program.”

This fall, the faculty will be given that opportunity, Morgan-Russell said.

The recommendations cannot be made final until reviewed by Graduate Council, the Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Affairs and the Ohio Board of Regents. Discussions will begin in the fall, according to an April 22 statement released by the administration.

“I think it’s important that we have this review process,” Morgan-Russell said. “I know in the distress caused to faculty, some people feel these things have been taken care of. Some of that might be suspicion of administrators making these decisions behind closed doors, but I really don’t believe that. Undergraduate Council and Graduate Council are important groups that really do get to bring that faculty perspective to these things, and this is only a recommendation at this point.”

For more information, visit the Graduate College website at http://www.bgsu.edu/gradcoll/.