On September 3, The Lincoln Journal Star reported Chancellor Ronnie Green went public with his decision to eliminate $18.9 million in faculty and staff positions over the next three years so he can close a $38.2 budget gap. In these cuts, he plans to dissolve the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. 

He claims the program must be cut because the COVID pandemic created "global, personal, societ[al] and financial ramifications." 

As a flagship school and Division I research institute, UNL has a history of providing students with a quality, affordable education, and these difficult times should be no different. 

Students should not pay the price for administrators lack of foresight during this crisis. Their education should not suffer because the institution failed to act. 

TMFD is an incredibly vital part of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln community. Students learn a diverse skill set in specialized courses in art and art history, apparel production, textile science, marketing, and women's studies. TMFD students receive a liberal arts education unlike scholars in other programs--we understand the social, historic, economic, and political implications of the garment industry. Scholars learn about the history of dress, social media outreach, the material composition of fabrics, and how to sew.

TMFD majors are specialists UNL cannot afford to lose. 

Sign here if you believe Chancellor Green should find budget cuts elsewhere--and not in a department like TMFD.