Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of stories looking at 34 University programs under scrutiny. The Board of Regents, the body that oversees the state’s higher education system, labeled those programs “under-performing” Jan. 26.
The University will not challenge the Board of Regents’ proposal to eliminate Latin and German majors after budget cuts last semester drastically reduced capability to teach the necessary classes.
“In this case, the University is ahead of the Board of Regents,” said Gaines Foster, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “We are not planning on challenging the elimination of the German and Latin majors.”
The two undergraduate programs are among 34 labeled “under-performing” by the Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s higher education system. The Regents are looking for programs statewide that aren’t producing graduates or that have redundancies within systems as budget cuts for higher education loom.
Universities must submit proposals to the Regents by Feb. 28 detailing either how the programs can be consolidated or defending why the programs should remain funded.
Foster said the University plans to challenge the rest of the programs in his college, but last semester’s cuts mean the two language majors would have expired anyway.
The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures was forced to cut 14 instructors and one part-time instructor last semester after receiving a $700,000 cut.
John Pizer, the new department chair, said those cuts effectively killed the German and Latin degrees.
“With the layoffs, there is no way to continue the German and Latin majors,” Pizer said.
Pizer said his department is working to ensure students currently enrolled in these curricula will still be able to finish their degrees.
“We are working to make sure current majors can do enough course work and independent study projects to get their degrees,” he said.
Last semester’s cuts also struck Japanese, Russian, Portuguese and Swahili. Pizer said those languages are not being offered this semester.
Andrew Ficklin, Latin and biochemistry senior, said he will be able to complete his degree. Still, the cuts are causing him headaches, he said.
“From what I’m told, it will just demean my degree,” he said. ”This is all just bad news.”
Ficklin tutors students taking Latin courses. He said he mostly helps non-majors, especially now that the major is disappearing.
“At this point, there aren’t many lower-level majors left,” he said.
Ficklin said a lack of Latin hurts the University in the long run.
“It’s the history of so much literature,” he said. “It’s the basis of our history and culture.”
Ficklin said faculty being forced to leave the University is a real loss for students.
“Because we were a small department, all of us were very close,” Ficklin said. “[The professors] really influenced me academically. Their absence is a real loss to the school.”
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]