As part of its plan to narrow a $23.9 million budget deficit, Sonoma State University eliminated the following degree programs at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year: The cutting room
Administrative Services Credential in ELSE Art History BA Art Studio BFA Dance BA Earth and Environmental Sciences BA Economics BA Education Leadership MA English MA French BA Geology BS German Minor Global Studies BA History MA
Jeff Keating, SSU associate vice president of government relations and strategic communications.
determined,” though the university did outline how some of the gifted money will be spent: • $10 million will go to SSU’s “Bridge to the Future” plan, which predated the “Sonoma State Commitment” (see sidebar). • $5.8 million will focus on student services, “including additional dollars to bolster recruitment” and “teach-out plans” to help students who lost their majors because of the cuts announced in January. Teach-out plans will give these students a path to finish their education at SSU. • $4.6 million from the CSU’s enrollment reallocation fund—money from campuses with higher enrollments to their sibling campuses who are struggling. “We firmly believe that those dollars should end up in the larger $9 million discretionary fund— in the Sonoma State Commitment—for re-establishing positions, and looking at additional enrollment growth,” McGuire stated. • $25 million for a one-time line of credit for infrastructure needs, because as SSU looks at new majors, new programs or modernizing current majors, there will be infrastructure needs for those programs. Keating says the university ended up with 14 tenure-track faculty laid off as of July, and a total of 16 lecturers laid off at the end of the spring term, for a total of 30. “However, two of the lecturers have returned this fall to a different department and are not separating from the university,” says Keating. “This means that of the 46 faculty who received layoff/nonrenewal notices, 18 will still be active for the fall 2025 semester—13 full-time, tenure-track and five lecturers.”
Interdisciplinary Studies BA Interdisciplinary Studies MA Philosophy BA Physical Science BA Physics BA Physics BS Public Administration MPA Spanish MA Theatre Arts BA Women and Gender Studies BA
Academic departments identified for closure were Art History, Economics, Geology, Philosophy, Theater/Dance, and Women and Gender Studies. In a blow to student athletes, the university also eliminated its NCAA Division II athletics for 2025-26. “Student athletes who choose to remain at SSU will remain eligible to receive scholarships as long as they meet the current terms of the scholarship,” the university stated. “SSU will support and assist those who wish to transfer in order to continue participation in intercollegiate athletics.” Administrators at SSU are optimistic that athletics will be reinstated for the 2026-27 school year. Originally, the university announced 46 university faculty would not have their contracts renewed for 2025-26. By the end of summer, that number was pared down to 30, with two of those faculty returning within a different department, according to Jeff Keating, the university’s associate vice president of government relations and strategic communications.
November 2025
NorthBaybiz 51
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