Program Moratorium and/or Termination
Program Moratorium and/or Termination Policy
Policy Type: Academic Policy
Date Adopted: April 21, 2020
Version: 1.2
Review Cycle: Biennial (Every 2 years)
Date Last Reviewed: October 3, 2023
Office Responsible: Office of the Provost
Contact: Vice Provost for Engaged Learning and Teaching Innovation
Background and Purpose
In some years programs may experience challenges that lead associated faculty members to consider suspension of activities. Past practice indicates that program and/or department faculty have typically engaged with their unit dean’s office in conversations about the program’s future. In some cases, these conversations have resulted in mutual decisions, supported within the unit governing faculty, to either terminate the program or to place it in a moratorium status. Program terminations have typically been enacted when the mutual decision determines that the program is unlikely to succeed and should be immediately closed. Moratoriums are typically enacted when the best course of action is not yet determined; that is, more time is required to consider its future. Accordingly, a moratorium may ultimately lead to termination, but it also may lead to a program rebirth when it is possible to address various issues within a time frame that may span several years.
Program moratoriums may vary in length from two to five years. They can be sought for both short- and long-term reasons that may include: over-enrollment in a given year, the need for curricular redesign, temporary financial pressures, the need to hire additional faculty, or external accrediting issues, as well as opportunities to allow faculty to reassess the purpose and goals of a program and to address longer-term structural issues. Additional pressures that result in moratorium or termination may include: insufficiency of faculty and leadership to ensure course availability or to ensure that students are mentored and advised; declining/insufficient enrollment; persistently low application and admissions activity affecting program viability and the quality of the student community; and the lack of funding and other resources needed to sustain the operation of the program.
Definitions
Termination is the cancellation of a program, also referred to within this document as closure. The program ceases to exist and is removed from the catalog, either immediately or in the subsequent catalog year. It is only pursued if there are no students in the program.
Moratorium is the suspension of the program such that it is currently not accepting students but continues to operate, typically to accommodate students who are already enrolled and need to finish. In this case, a moratorium may ultimately lead to the program re-opening, or the program may eventually be terminated.
Authority
The University of Michigan Standard Practice Guide (SPG 601.02) places ultimate responsibility for activities related to programs with the Board of Regents. The SPG also delegates authority for program termination, and by extension program moratorium, to the governing faculty, including faculty committees as designated, as well as the Dean and/or Executive Committee (if any) of a School or College, in collaboration with the Provost.
SPG 601.02 and Regents bylaws 5.02, 5.03, 5.06 specify that the recommendation for closure of a program should emanate from the Dean and/or the Executive Committee (if any) following faculty consultation and after the governing faculty of the relevant school or college has met and formally expressed its views regarding contemplated action(s). Recommendations are subsequently forwarded to the Provost for final action.
In the case of moratorium, since the program is not being closed but suspended for consideration of further actions, the action does not require the vote of the unit Governing Faculty. Rather, the recommendation for placing a program on moratorium should emanate from the Dean and/or the Executive Committee (if any) following faculty consultation as defined in the next subsection, and recommendations are forwarded to the Provost for final action.
Governance Requirements
The stages of examining a program and recommending and approving moratorium or closure include the following:
1. Initiation of Review
In the regular course of conducting university business, members of the university community may recognize that a program is under duress; in these cases, the circumstances may merit initiation of a review that provides evidence either supporting or opposing a recommendation for closure or moratorium. Reviews may be initiated by faculty, by committee actions, or by the unit Dean or the Provost. The types of reviews may include, but are not limited to:
- Scheduled program review by unit Dean and Executive Committee
- Scheduled program review by the Director of Graduate Programs (for graduate programs)
- Scheduled program review by the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs (for undergraduate programs)
- A review by an external entity, such as an accrediting organization
- Review by a unit Curriculum Committee
- Review by department faculty
- Review by unit governing faculty
Engaging in one of the above forms of review typically results in a recommendation being made by the associated body. In each case, the results of the review must be forwarded to the unit Dean’s office.
2. Dean’s Direction
On receipt of the results of a review as outlined above, the Dean may direct staff within their unit to initiate a governance process as outlined in the next several steps. Any recommendations made by the sources identified in item 1 should be included as supporting evidence.
3. For Program Termination
Following a recommendation for termination, the unit Curriculum Committee shall consider the issue and forward its recommendation to the unit Dean and Executive committee. The Dean and Executive Committee shall consider the result of the Curriculum Committee’s deliberations and make a recommendation that is considered by the unit Governing Faculty and voted on. A record of that vote, along with supporting rationale and dissenting opinions, must be included in the recommendation that is forwarded to the Provost.
4. For Program Moratorium
Following a recommendation for moratorium, the unit Curriculum Committee shall consider the issue in consultation with the affected department and program, forwarding its recommendation to the unit Dean and Executive Committee. The Dean and Executive Committee shall consider the result of the Curriculum Committee’s action and make a recommendation to the Provost. Supporting rationale and dissenting opinions must be attached to the recommendation that is forwarded to the Provost.
5. Implementation
Once the Provost has acted on a recommendation to close a program or place a program on moratorium, the unit Dean sets up a consultative process with the program, the governing faculty and other affected parties, to discuss and determine the best course of action that should be arranged as far as communicating with and accommodating affected students, faculty, and staff. Depending on the level of the program, the Provost will also share a record of the action with the Registrar, the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and if appropriate, the Director of Graduate Programs.
Program Moratorium
Programs shall remain on moratorium a maximum of five years. The Registrar’s Office will monitor this with an annual review.
Immediately after a decision to place a program in moratorium by the Provost, the program, in collaboration with the unit Dean and Executive Committee, is responsible for notifying current applicants, admitted, enrolled students, admissions counselors and academic advisors, and relevant university governing bodies of the moratorium status (see “Communication Plan” below). The program is also responsible for meeting individually with students and confirming that they will be able to complete their degree. The Registrar’s Office will remove the program requirements from the upcoming catalog and replace them with a moratorium statement. For example:
The [program name] program has been placed on moratorium status and is not currently accepting new students. Students who have already entered this program will be advised by their units of the options available to them to complete their degrees. Every reasonable effort will be made to permit students to complete these programs or similar programs.
OR
The [program name] program has been placed on moratorium status for the academic year 2019-20 and is not currently accepting new students. It will resume accepting students for the 2020-21 academic year. Students who have already entered this program will be advised by their units of the options available to them to complete their degrees. Every reasonable effort will be made to permit students to complete these programs or similar programs.
During or prior to the last year of the moratorium period, the program shall submit a formal request to (1) reinstate the program or (2) terminate the program. During the moratorium period, program faculty should consider the status of the program and how it stands in relation to the factors that led to the moratorium request, in order to assess the future of the program.
Program Termination
Program termination may occur when it has been determined the program is no longer viable due to low enrollment, the curriculum is deemed obsolete, or faculty resources are too scarce to facilitate students’ successful completion of the program. Terminating a program means it will no longer be offered and students will no longer be admitted to the program. There are three primary mechanisms by which a program may be terminated:
1. Immediate Termination
The department faculty indicate a desire to bypass the moratorium process and immediately terminate the program, following the steps outlined in the governance process above. This option should only be elected if there are currently no students in the program. If an immediate termination has been selected, then the following text will be added to the program’s section in the catalog:
The [program name] program has been terminated and is not currently accepting new students.
2. Termination During Moratorium
During the moratorium period, the department faculty determine that the program should be terminated. In this case, a request to terminate a program may be processed at any time during the five-year moratorium period by following the steps outlined in the governance process above. Again, this should only take place once all students have finished the program or transferred to an alternative program. If this is selected, then the program will be removed from the following year’s catalog.
3. Termination After Moratorium Expires
A request to reopen a program (through a program change request) is not submitted by the deadline in the final year of the moratorium. In this case, the Provost may enact that authority outside the governance requirements defined above, and the program will be terminated and removed from the following year’s catalog. The Office of the Registrar will notify the School or College of the termination, and the program’s description will be removed with no other notation. At this point, if any students remain in the program, the department will be required to either transfer the students to alternative programs or to develop a plan to graduate them. This must be completed prior to the publishing of the following year’s catalog.
When the decision is made to terminate a program, admissions counselors, advisors, and current and prospective students must be made aware of this immediately. It is expected that terminating a program means it currently has no students. If any students remain within the program at its desired termination point, then it may be more appropriate to initiate a moratorium. In this case, the students must be notified and advised of transfer options; once they have all completed or transferred, the program may be terminated from its moratorium status. All currently enrolled and active students must be evaluated for a plan to graduate, and such plans must be shared and confirmed with the students on an individual basis.
It may be possible to terminate a program in moratorium status and make substantive changes, to subsequently propose a new program. Creation of a new program based on a previously terminated program does not necessarily result in receipt of the start-up tuition incentive during its first four years.
Reinstatement from Moratorium
A request to reinstate a program from moratorium must be submitted by making a program change that includes a newly revised budget plan and includes detailed justification for reinstating the program, which follows the standard governance process defined for program changes. Even with no changes to the pre-moratorium program, this is done as part of the documentation of the status of the program in the catalog and by the Office of the Registrar. In order for the program to return to the catalog in the following fall, the request must meet standard program change deadlines as defined by the Registrar’s Office.
Communication Plan
After a decision is made to authorize a program for placement on moratorium or to terminate the program, the following communications must take place:
As specified above, the program will notify admissions counselors, relevant academic advisors, admitted students, enrolled students, and current applicants of the moratorium or termination status. All currently enrolled and active students must be evaluated for a plan to graduate, and the program must meet individually with students to share these plans and confirm that they will be able to complete their degree.
For Undergraduate Programs
The Vice Provost for Academic Affairs will notify:
- The Director of Graduate Programs
- The Academic Assessment and Policy Committee
- The Accreditation Liaison Officer to the Higher Learning Commission
- The University Academic Advising Committee
- The Office of Undergraduate Admissions
- The University Curriculum Committee
- The Council of Deans
For Graduate Programs
The Director of Graduate Programs will notify:
- The Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
- The Accreditation Liaison Officer to the Higher Learning Commission
- The Academic Assessment and Policy Committee
- The University Academic Advising Committee
- The University Curricular Committee
- The Council of Deans
- As appropriate, the Rackham Graduate School
In the case of program termination, standard procedures for notification of MASU and HLC must be followed.
Version History
| Date of Change | Version | Description of Change |
|---|---|---|
| April 21, 2020 | 1.0 | Adopted |
| December 16, 2020 | 1.1 | Adjusted language in 1st paragraph, added new conditions in paragraph under “Reinstatement from Moratorium”. Reformatted the policy header to be consistent with other documents, and added this revision history table. |
| October 3, 2023 | 1.2 | Adjusted language under “Governance requirements” and “Communication Plan”. Adjusted language in the policy header. Updated the revision history table. Updated Contact information. |
For questions about program moratorium or termination, please contact the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs in the Office of the Provost.