By ALLI SCHIEBER
Editor-in-Chief
Gov. Kevin Stitt wants to consolitate some of the universities in the state.
That was one of the suggestions he emphasized in the annual State of the State Address, which he delivered on Feb. 5.
Stitt talked about an array of different subjects including consolidating universities.
Stitt said he wants Oklahomas colleges and universities to be the best in the United States.
“To be the best, we need to shift our focus to outcome-based higher education models and stop subsidzing institutions with low enrollment and low graduation rates,” Stitt said.
In the fall of 2022 Northwestern had a total of 1,647 under graduate students enrolled.
While enrollment numbers have been continuously rising, those numbers are still low compared to other four year universities.
In the same semester Southwestern Oklahoma State University had 3,942 students.
Though Northwestern is not the smallest university in Oklahoma, it is on the smaller side.
Stitt did not just say that the state needs to focus on outcome-based higher education; he also said each college and university should focus on the subjects that they are best at.
“I want to see legislation that incentivizes models that fulfill our state’s workforce needs,” Stitt said. “I also want our regents to focus on consolidating colleges and universities that aren’t meeting this standard.”
This statement shocked a lot of lawmakers in Oklahoma when he called for consolidation.
In an article by oklahomavoice.com, Stitts spokesperson Abegail Cave said the govenor seeks to eliminate redundancies in higher education, encouraging smaller institutions to share some of their administrative costs and eliminate duplicative programs.
“There are smaller publicly funded colleges around the state that are near other similarly sized colleges, all offering similar sets of programs,” Cave said.
She went on to say if two colleges that are 40 minutes apart then it makes sense for them to complement each other’s programs and not offer all the same programs.
This does not just apply to smaller schools but could apply to schools like the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.
Cave said that OSU should not offer a meterology degree since OU has a nationally ranked one. Same with OU; they should let OSU take the reigns on the agriculture departments because that is what OSU really excels at.
Northwestern has one of the best nursing programs so it is more than likely Alva would keep that. But what does that mean for everything else?
Before talking about universities consolidating, Stitt talked about a mother who was taking care of her three children after her husband died.
Her youngest daughter would come home crying every day because of how people treated her for standing up for her brother with autism. The mother went on to put her daughter in a private school where she is now thriving.
That being said not all schools are a good fit for everyone.
Some students do better at schools that are smaller like Northwestern or Southwestern and not a school with 21,000 students like OU.
Students may do better with smaller class sizes and having everyone with in 40 miles go to the same place to get the degree they want may result in a lower graduation rate.
However, if the consolidating of universities is voluntary it may be better in the long run.
“Our schools, colleges and universities are teaching kids how to think not what to think,” Stitt said. “And students from all over the country are coming to Oklahoma to take part in the free flow of idea.”
Northwestern is great at doing this. I have had several classes that encourage the students to think for themselves.
“Our higher education institutions are always looking for ways to serve Oklahoma better and more efficintly,” said higher education Chancellor Allison Garret.
In response to Stitt’s speech according to oklahomavoice.com.
Oklahoma has 25 public universities which would be a lot of universities to consolodate.
