While the sometimes heated discussion about an academic reorganization proposal continues at SIU-Carbondale, Southeast Missouri State University is moving ahead with its own restructuring plan.
The Cape Girardeau School's Board of Regents approved academic department restructurings Friday on a smaller scale.
Southeast Missouri State President Carlos Vargas says the changes will have little impact on faculty or students.
"So, there was really no impact on the programs on the accreditation or on the accessibility of the faculty to the students. There was also a concern at one point that we were going to be merging the degrees themselves and that's not the case."
The Board approved dissolving the Department of Modern Languages, Anthropology and Geography, and merging it into two existing departments, creating the Department of History and Anthropology and the Department of Communication Studies and Modern Languages.
The Regents also approved merging the Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology with the Department of Social Work to create a new Department of Criminal Justice, Social Work and Sociology.
Vargas says there was a slight pushback from faculty on the second plan out of concerns the degrees would be merged.
"By the time we clarified that, I think people understood that the concerns that they had were unfounded."
Vargas says more restructuring may be on the horizon in the spring at Southeast Missouri State University.
"We already have had conversations where we have explored the different scenarios and we are continuing to refine what we will see."
Vargas the restructuring is largely due to a need to reduce administrative costs after a nine percent reduction in state funds.
Vargas says the changes will save up to 120-thousand dollars per year.
The changes go into effect on July 1st.
