For the moment, it appears WSU’s sport management program will be spared the ax for the 2009-2011 biennium budget.

In an e-mail obtained by The Summer Evergreen, College of Education Dean Judy Mitchell wrote that during the summer and continuing into the fall semester, faculty from the sport management program will discuss moving the program from the College of Education to the College of Business.

Mitchell also wrote that the College of Education will certify new undergraduate majors in June, as well as offer prerequisite courses for certifying in the fall. All certified students (current and new) will receive degrees through the College of Education.

Some instructors have had their contracts renewed for an additional year, with no word on what happens after that.

Representatives from the College of Education, the College of Business and the Office of the Provost could not be reached for comment. The university, which is expected to release the full budget today, had no official comment.

The sport management program, along with the German major, the Department of Theatre & Dance and the Department of Rural Sociology, was slated to be cut as part of WSU’s $54 million budget reduction for the upcoming biennium.

According to preliminary budget documents on the WSU Web site, eliminating sport management would have saved the university $293,114. Mitchell’s e-mail said the College of Education’s budget reduction goal had been reduced by the amount cutting the program would have saved. It’s unclear whether the university will attempt to make up the $293,114 in reductions in a different area.

Theatre and dance, which has seen an outpouring of support from alumni, students and faculty, learned last week that talks with the University of Idaho regarding a possible merger were unsuccessful.

A preliminary budget proposal was released May 1 by the university for public and institutional comment. The original plan was to have the numbers finalized by June 1, but the university released a statement on May 29 saying the final budget would be released “within the first two weeks of June.”