The author does state what you say at the end of the 2nd paragraph, but in the same paragraph, he said "The reason given for this egregious violation of ethica

The author does state what you say at the end of the 2nd paragraph, but in the same paragraph, he said "The reason given for this egregious violation of ethical and professional norms is that the university faces a dire budget crisis, and the administration has no choice but to cut academic programs in order to close their structural budget deficit." And in the third paragraph... "The story of how the university got into such a catastrophic financial position to begin with is a long and complex one" I do not doubt the author's claim that the linguistics dept at WVU was profitable. I also agree with him that these decisions (sensible or not) are born from the massive financial pit they've dug themselves into.