Earlier this year, I wrote a column in defense of UNC’s Slavic, Eurasian and East European studies, which faced budget cuts due to a loss of federal funding.
This caused the center to have to scramble to find funding for some of its students this year and is one of many contributing factors to a reorganization of the Russian and East European studies master’s program into a concentration of the global studies master’s program beginning in the 2014-15 academic year.
Though the issue of funding was eventually resolved, it is not the first time nor will it be the last that a highly specialized program like this that does not necessarily attract many students faces financial or logistical hardships. In 2011, the Germanic languages and Slavic languages and literatures departments merged to be protected from cuts and to streamline the administrative structure of both departments.
These examples illustrate the problem small departments have in a large public university. What makes UNC such an attractive school for out-of-state students like me is its unparalleled variety of courses in a wide array of departments. More must be done to protect the programs that add cultural, linguistic and intellectual diversity to UNC.
While the issue of federal funding is out of the University’s hands, it is telling that the center was most dependent on a source of funding outside of UNC. Not all of the factors that contribute to difficulties for these departments come from the University, but the more the university can do to protect them, the more secure our vibrant academic climate will be.
