With NU president killing merger, UNL chancellor urges critics to offer ideas for better architecture program
NU President Hank Bounds Thursday put the brakes on a merger of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Architecture with UNL's College of Fine and Performing Arts.
Regents were to consider the merger, proposed by UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman a year ago, at Friday's meeting. But Bounds said it was clear after conversations with the Board of Regents, campus leadership, faculty, alumni and other private-sector stakeholders that the proposed merger lacked sufficient support to be successful.
“I have decided, after careful consideration, that it is best not to bring the proposal to the Board at this time,” Bounds said in a news release. "I will work closely with the chancellor, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and other internal and external stakeholders to determine the best path forward."
Architecture faculty and professionals have fought the merger. Architects from Lincoln and Omaha spoke to the Board of Regents during the public comment portion of the board's April 10 meeting.1
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Bounds said in a press release Thursday that he will work closely with the chancellor and others to “determine the best path forward” for the programs.
The UNL administration had planned to launch the merged college next month. Perlman was pushing for the merger in part because of budgetary reasons: to combine operations, reduce staff and eliminate a dean position.
He said the move also would have created better academic opportunities by creating a closer connection between the arts and architecture faculty.
Neither college is in a crisis, according to UNL, but the colleges are among the university’s smallest, with fewer than 800 students in the arts college and about 500 enrolled in architecture.
The merger had some support, but many local architectural firms feared the change would weaken UNL’s offerings by removing its independent status as a college and placing it under the control of another discipline. College leaders had already announced plans to make the fine arts college dean the head of the new college.
Future resources for the College of Architecture will depend on its success, Perlman said, because the university invests in programs that perform.
“Now we have some pretty clear expectations for what’s possible for the College of Architecture, and to the extent they perform, they will be supported with the resources necessary,” Perlman said.
The College of Architecture has been led by an interim dean since 2012. No viable candidates emerged in a national search, Perlman said, and soon after faculty went through a program review, discussions for a merger began, and they didn’t start a second search.
Perlman said he will not hire a permanent dean now.2