Emergency. A university Russian program in trouble

[DiMao]

Dear friends and colleagues,

I would like to request your help in saving the Slavic/Russian program at the Florida State University. It is being cut along with 21 other "underperforming" departments at the university. However, in actuality, the program is anything but underperforming. Its three faculty members are some of the most respected and prolific Slavic scholars in North America: they do research and teach in Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Serbian and Romanian. The Russian language courses at the department are consistently filled to (and sometimes over) the limit. The department regularly graduates both undergraduate and Master's students. At this time, recent department graduates are pursuing PhD degrees in such prestigious institutions as Harvard and the University of Toronto.

It is clear that the main reason the department is being cut is the fact that it is a Slavic Department. Russian is being treated as a marginal and expendable discipline. What kind of university is it going to be that will offer its students neither Russian nor Ukrainian language courses nor literature courses that cover such works as Crime and Punishment and War and Peace?

I would like to ask for your support in signing an on-line petition to the Florida State University Administration. The petition aims to draw attention to the importance of Russian and other Slavic languages in general and to the excellent performance of FSU's Slavic division in particular. Please, see the text of the petition for more details on the issue. In the long-run and as a matter of principle, the fate of all Slavic studies in North America is on trial here. Please, show your support. (The link will be in the next post)

Many thanks!

P.S. I am not currently affiliated with this particular department, but I think that it is an extremely important fight that will impact the fate of Russian programs throughout North America.

[DiMao]

Here is the link to the petition
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/31/protect-the-slavicrussian-program-at-fsu

[Hangernaid]

I have a hard time believing this. I struggle to learn Russian on my own, and I am currently enrolled at University of Phoenix to finish a BS in Education so I can go to Russia or Ukraine and teach English.

WHY would any University cut their Slavic/Russian program? I did write to them, but it will do little good. My opinion of administrators is already pretty low and dropping fast. They will do what they will do and any student wanting to study Russian will have to find another school.

[DiMao]