Being a college graduate from New York City’s CUNY network of colleges (Lehman College specifically), I’ve seen some f’ed up shit happen behind the textbooks. But nothing compares to the downright stupidity that is happening in the University of Florida. In an age where tuition rates are ever rising and demand for people versed in technology is at an all-time high, UF goes ahead and removes the Computer Science division. Stranger still is the fact that the athletics department at the school saw its budget increase by $2 Million, bringing it’s annual budget to $97 Million (though Forbes stresses in a postscript that the Athletics budget is separate from the other depts. thanks to the UAA). According to Forbes, the big culprits here are “…the Florida state legislators, who have cut the budget for their flagship university by 30% over the past 6 years.”

So let me paint you a picture here. The University of Florida is the flagship college for Florida. Anyone who lives in Florida (and/or doesn’t have the budget to leave the state) will try to get into the college. Since a boatload of people will be going there, you’ll cater to the needs of the students by offering many programs. One program that is in high demand is Computer Science. That has become the sort-of standard for colleges in the U.S. If there is a college, there is a Computer Science major. It’s an essential major, like having wheels on a car. So what does UF do to save money? Oh, cut one of the most important majors from its school instead finding a better solution to save money. Yeah, pretty boneheaded if you ask me. And what about the current students within the major who aren’t graduating yet? What are they gonna do now, get grandfathered into some backwater useless major? Think things through people!

The students there are currently rallying people together to save the Computer Science Department. You can read up the info here.

Seriously, what is it with Florida? If they’re not birthing insane lawyers or exploiting faulty laws, they’re doing shit like this.

University of Florida Eliminates Computer Science Department, Increases Athletic Budgets. Hmm. [Forbes]