The UNC History Department announced on Monday it will not be accepting applications to its graduate program during the 2021 admissions cycle due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a message to the community, the department said the decision was made to ensure it has resources to continue its academic mission during the pandemic. It also cited years of state budget cuts to the department.

The department’s entire message reads:

We regret to announce that the UNC-CH History Department will not accept applications to our graduate program during the 2021 admissions cycle. In order to ensure that the department has resources to adequately support its educational mission during the Covid-19 pandemic and after years of state budget cuts, we will hold off on bringing new entrants to the program until 2022. The decision to eliminate a cohort of future graduate students was not an easy one, but we have decided that the most responsible course of action is to prioritize those who are already in our program. We look forward to reading applications again in the fall of 2021 for the 2022 cohort.

This decision by UNC’s History Department comes amid preparation for larger budget cuts and financial concerns at the university.

Max Owre is part of UNC’s history department faculty. He told 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck about the decision on Monday and elaborated on the rationale.

“We’ve had budget cuts for a number of years,” said Owre, “and when you bring in a new cohort every year, you want to make sure you can provide them with all the resources they need. It was a strategic decision, some of it done [to be] preventative.”

Owre also revealed the decision was made at a faculty retreat the previous week.

“It’s a very tough decision,” he said. “[There was] a lot of hand-wringing, but we think this is the ethical thing to do in this particular situation.”

Officials for UNC said during Friday’s Faculty Council meeting that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could cause a projected $300 million deficit in its operating budget.

Within the athletics department, Bubba Cunningham previously said they are expecting up to $52 million in lost revenue. UNC Athletics will implement furloughs and pay cuts beginning later this year.

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