The undergraduate dance major at Oakland’s Mills College –- part of one of the oldest and most respected dance programs in this country — will be spared from budget cuts, school officials announced Monday.
Facing a serious budget shortfall, school president Alecia DeCoudreaux proposed cuts to a number of programs back in October. Among those proposed cuts was the undergraduate dance major and the school’s book arts program, as well as some language classes.
Then just before noon Monday, Mills officials announced that the school would make changes in order to allow undergrads to major in dance. They said they have developed a plan to save the dance program that involves lowering expenses, reducing course requirements and streamlining class schedules.
According to a press release sent out Monday, the decision to keep the undergraduate dance major is part of school’s vision to “continuously reimagine curriculum for the needs of current and incoming students.” This has included school faculty proposing new programs for data science, economics, urban studies and many more. These proposals are expected to go before the Mills trustees in May.
School officials also said that they are “evaluating fundraising opportunities” to help create a endowment to support the book arts program after an outpouring of support for it from the international community.
