In response to The University of Memphis's decision to eliminatethe Russian program, some students have banded together to form anorganization that questions the decision, hoping for itsreversal.
The organization, Why Russian, held a rally outside theUniversity Center last Friday. Many students who passed by signed apetition in favor of keeping the program, which group members saidthey will present to U of M President Shirley Raines.
The decision to cut the Russian program, along with the Chineseprogram, came during the end of the spring 2003 semester.
"The provost told me he's cutting my position in May of nextyear," said Elizabeth Blake, assistant professor of Russian."Concentrations in Russian are ending, so no one can major or minorin Russian. If someone is available, they'll continue teaching thelower division courses in Russian."
However, many of the programs' students didn't hear about thecuts until much later.
"I first learned about the cut three weeks into the semester,"said 20-year-old freshman Sara Cantrell, a member of Why Russianwith an international studies major and minor in Russian. "The onlyway to the get the credit required for my major besidestransferring to another school is to study abroad, which is $9,500a semester."
Cantrell's major is concentrated in Eastern European studies andrequires credit in an upper division language class. She cannotsuccessfully complete her major without switching to anotherlanguage.
"I took a year off of school to figure out what I wanted to do,"said Cantrell. "I know that this is indeed what I want, and when Ifinally figured that out, The University decides not to offerRussian anymore."
Ralph Faudree, U of M provost, said the No. 1 reason for thecuts is student demand.
"The cuts are made based on the number of people wanting coursesor majors in that subject," said Faudree. "The demand was smallestat the upper division level of Russian and Chinese, and that's whyit was cut."
However, the elimination of the language does not leave studentsin the Russian program with many options. The U of M is the onlypublic school besides the University of Tennessee to offer theprogram, and although students could study abroad, often times thesemesters in different countries are costly.
"I want to study Russian history," said 20-year-old junior WendeWagner, a member of Why Russian with a double major in English andhistory and a minor in Russian. "The University has now completelybarred me to apply to the history graduate program because you needupper division language credits. In order to study Russia, I needto know the language."
Russian is the only Eastern European language offered at TheUniversity.
"With The University cutting Russian and also Chinese, they arecutting out two of the biggest land mass countries in the world,"said Wagner. "More people speak Russian worldwide than German andFrench combined."
Members of Why Russian have come up with a few solutions tocompletely cutting the Russian program.
"One thing they can do is grandfather the program," saidCantrell. "They should take out each level of the program asstudents progress."
Blake has also offered suggestions.
"I suggested a salary joint appointment in two separatedepartments," said Blake. "This way, my pay could be split withother departments. I offered to teach courses in the genderstudies, English and international studies programs. All weredenied by The University."
Henry Kurtz, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said,however, that The University will work to make sure the students inthe cut programs can graduate.
"It's hard to layout a single plan," he said. "These studentscome from so many different backgrounds. We have thought aboutfunding study abroad programs or being flexible on graduationrequirements. We're looking at options, but not one size fitsall."
Kurtz also said that the program cannot be "grandfathered"because what is being cut out is only the upper division part ofthe program.
"Enrollment for the Russian program was on the lower side" inpast years, said Ralph Albanese, chair of the foreign languagedepartment. "Dr. Blake brought enrollment up, so I don't think TheUniversity gave her much of a chance. Our department has been hurtwith cuts, especially though, when a person is involved."
Albanese said the department is in the process of finding a parttime instructor to teach lower division Russian courses.
"This can hurt The University's credibility," said Blake. "Theyare cutting two languages that represent a major part of the worldpopulation. Russian and Chinese markets are opening, so there aremany business opportunities that will be available in a fewyears."
