The University of Nebraska at Lincoln Landscape Architecture program - alongside Community and Regional Planning; Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; Educational Administration, Statistics, and Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design - was named this fall as part of a proposed elimination due to a $21 million budget gap at the University, but after a Nov. 10 final plan, the program was spared.

 
With a looming Dec. 5 regents meeting, Chancellor Rodney Bennett shared his final plan in an email showing about $9 million in academic cuts and $4 million anticipated savings due to department mergers. This proposal would cut at least $20.76 million if accepted by the regents. However, a buyout package was offered to almost 70 tenured faculty that would further the savings.

The cuts no longer call to eliminate academic programs in community and regional planning and Landscape Architecture. According to the University's budget process site, "the Executive Leadership Team has proposed teaching and research metrics that will be used for academic program analysis with input from many people... Valuable feedback from these meetings has resulted in improvements to this metrics-based approach that can be consistently and fairly applied across programs." This shows how the university will review programs moving forward.

The school released a statement following the chancellor's email stating that more than 3,800 alumni, professionals, and community members "rallied behind these disciplines."

In a turn of events, the Faculty Senate overwhelmingly passed a no-confidence resolution against Chancellor Bennett, revealing campus-wide unification and frustration. UNL's Association of American University Professors President Sarah Zuckerman, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Administration, said, "we will not accept a lack of transparency, the exclusion of faculty from decision-making, or the erosion of our university's 156-year-old mission to educate Nebraska's students."

At the time of publication, LASN has not heard back from the landscape architecture program.