Cutting Academic Programs: The 'Road Too Little Traveled'?

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In a "View" on Inside Higher Ed, Tim Mann notes that for many reasons, a "rigorous, objective review" of academic programs may be the hardest thin on campus to do. He provides an anonymous "case illustration" and then promotes the potential value of a "portfolio review process."

Even in the face of unprecedented financial challenge, are the traditions, political forces, mission arguments and ideological posturing within the academy trumping the ability to restructure the academic portfolio, and the decision making and resource allocation structures that currently exist? Or, alternatively, is the eye of the storm of such magnitude that this level of macro change will be deferred until stimulus funding evaporates and there is a public moratorium on tuition and fee increases?

Perhaps for some regions, major restructuring will occur only when the reality of large declines in the high school pipeline make their way into annual operating budgets, and community colleges begin cannibalizing enrollments from neighboring four-year institutions.