The College of Idaho is eliminating three undergraduate majors and adding six new programs amid a “shift of resourcing,” C of I’s chief executive officer said Thursday. 

Starting next fall, the Caldwell-based liberal arts college will no longer offer theater, communication arts and philosophy as majors. These will be replaced with three new undergraduate majors — biochemistry, finance and criminology — and three master’s degrees — data analytics, exercise science and accountancy. 

Current students enrolled in theater, communication arts and philosophy will be able to complete their programs, but the majors won’t be available for new students starting in 2026-27, said CEO Doug Brigham.

“It’s shifting our investment resources from under-enrolled (programs) to more of the growth areas,” Brigham told Idaho Education News by phone.

The changes come with layoffs. Ten employees will be affected, including five professors, according to Brigham and Marcey Logue, director of marketing and communications for C of I. 

Founded in 1891, College of Idaho is the state’s oldest private liberal arts college. About 1,100 students attend the school.

Rumors of program cuts and layoffs this week sparked concern among students and alumni that C of I was in financial trouble and that it was straying from its liberal arts mission. They also worried that a popular debate program, housed under the communication arts major, would be cut. 

Brigham tried to assuage these concerns Thursday.

C of I will continue to sponsor a debate team and put on theatrical productions as co-curricular activities, he said. And the college will still offer philosophy classes as part of its core liberal arts curriculum.

“I’m a huge fan of a liberal arts education, and we’re never going to get away from that,” Brigham said.  

While the program changes will produce a net savings, the “driving force” was shifting demand for academic majors, Brigham said. The eliminated majors have been under-enrolled for a few years, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change, he said. The new majors and graduate programs support growing demand for those subjects among students and parents. 

Meanwhile, C of I has “a lot of good tailwinds” behind it, Brigham said, including an all-time-high endowment and $129 million in recent donations through an ongoing fundraising campaign. 

“We don’t want to let that go to waste and we want to be good stewards for our donor base,” he said. “We’re doing the tough things we need to do before they become issues.”