The recommendations are part of MSU’s effort to reduce its total operating budget by 15 percent to 20 percent during the next three years, according to MSU’s Shaping the Future Web site.

The eliminations include the departments of Communicative Sciences and Disorders and Geological Sciences, along with several other programs, such as retailing and the American Studies Program.

A policy to conduct mental health examinations on students who display evidence of mental instability also is slated to be discussed today during ECAC’s meeting at 3:15 p.m. in room 401 of the Administration Building.

Recommended cuts

Wilcox is expected to introduce the recommended cuts into MSU’s Academic Governance system today, Secretary for Academic Governance Jacqueline Wright said.

“I haven’t received anything in hard copy yet,” Wright said.

She said ECAC’s role is to refer recommendations to the appropriate committees, which are responsible for sending responses to Wilcox. After each review committee provides feedback, Wright said the cuts likely will appear on the Faculty and Academic councils’ agendas.

In a Sept. 8 memorandum, Wilcox asked each college dean to devise a list of potential long- and short-term budget reduction strategies by Oct. 16. The recommended program cuts Wilcox announced Friday stem from the deans’ suggestions.

ECAC Chairman Harold Hughes said it is impossible to predict how long it will take the recommendations to be voted upon.

“I would expect … some issues that come up in proposals will just kind of sail through and others there will be more opposition,” Hughes said. “The university, I think, has a strong interest in getting this reorganization under way and completed because it takes a lot of time.”

Mental health policy

Kristine Zayko, a deputy general counsel for MSU, said she spent the past eight or nine years drafting a policy to address how MSU officials handle situations when students pose a threat to themselves or others because of mental or physical health conditions. The policy is an administrative ruling, which means it is sent to Academic Governance for feedback before it is enacted.

The Office of the General Counsel represents MSU on all legal matters, Zayko said.

Under the policy, Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Lee June or his designee can require a student to undergo a mental health assessment if presented with credible evidence a student poses a threat to his or her own or others’ safety, for either mental or physical health reasons, according to a Sept. 15 drafted version of the policy.

“It’s not a departure or a new approach to handling these issues,” Zayko said. “What we wanted to do was put it down on paper.”

Zayko said she worked with a committee of about 20 to 30 people from campuswide groups and offices, including the Office of the Ombudsman and MSU’s University Physician’s Office, to gather input into the policy.

“We were working on this previous to the Virginia Tech and other campus shootings, but those incidents, I would say, probably breathed new life into us trying to get this policy done and implemented,” Zayko said.