Sonoma State University Ends Athletic Programs, Cuts Several Departments Amid $24M Deficit

CBS Bay Area

/ CBS/Bay City News Service

Sonoma State University announced Wednesday that its intercollegiate athletics programs are being discontinued, several academic departments and majors are being eliminated and dozens of faculty members are being laid off to address a budget deficit of nearly $24 million.

The university in Rohnert Park will not renew contracts for 46 faculty members for the 2025-26 school year and several other lecturers and management and staff positions are also being eliminated, interim university president Emily Cutrer said in a statement to the campus community.

Some of the degree programs identified for elimination include art history, dance, economics, earth and environmental sciences, French, philosophy, theater arts, and women and gender studies, according to Sonoma State, which said a $23.9 million budget deficit for the 2025-26 school year is due in part to enrollment numbers that have dropped 38% in the past decade.

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