News from the Chicago Tribune:
The University of Illinois Chicago may be dissolving its School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics in the coming weeks and terminating all of the school’s nontenured faculty at the end of the academic year, faculty members said the university told them Feb. 7.The categories for Spring 2025 course offerings, from the LCSC website: Arabic, Classics, Modern Greek, and Latin; Catholic, Jewish, and Religious Studies; Central and European Studies, Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian; Chinese; French; German; Italian; International Studies; Japanese; Korean; Linguistics; Spanish.
[My post title, inspired by a Daily News headline, might seem extreme, but this is really dire news.]
comments: 4
yes -- this is dire news!!! as someone who took French, German and Russian and many linguistics classes, very disturbing. if one isn't studying languages how do they understand interactions with other countries. Over 10 years ago, I saw a column about less persons in Russian classes and she was appalled. She wondered how would we negotiate with other countries if we didn't know their history and customs or language. I always found knowing some words of the country I was visiting was very helpful. I was less likely to be seen as an "ugly American."
kirsten
I wonder if the extremity of this proposal is meant to make some future proposal seem more moderate. But this kind of cutting is no doubt what many in and out of higher ed seek. It sickens me and makes me wonder why anyone would aspire to be a prof.
I too am offended.
To me such courses are like a remote national park: I may never go there myself, but it's so nice to know they exist.
The lady next door to me is taking Ancient Greek at the local university; I told her my life is much improved by having taken a vocabulary course in Greek and Latin, taught by the classics department. Now I can look at a modern word and see where it comes from, and its old denotations.
I just saw that UIC bills itself as "Chicago's Public Research University." But without research in [insert field of study here].
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