STOP DEPARTMENT CUTS! SAVE OUR SCHOOL!
As you may know, the College of Arts and Sciences has sprung deep cuts in the past month on several departments, which immediately stop all program admissions and promise complete shut downs for many. Students may have their immigration status imperilled, the value of their degree diminished, or their major program lost.
These cuts affect the departments of Cultural Studies/Comparative Literature, Hispanic Languages, European Languages, Theater, and Dance on West Campus, and Health Science on East Campus.
The administration claims these cuts are “necessary” to finance a long anticipated and relatively small funding deficit of 1.5 million. The SUNY system as a whole is fiscally healthy, and this deficit is itself very low.
But they want to balance the budget by cutting, combining and shuttering small departments. Many of these departments have high placement records in tenure track positions and service many undergraduate majors and minors. Hispanic Languages alone offers the second largest major by enrollment in the Humanities. These cuts are not based on merit or metrics; they are the arbitrary will of the administration.
Their message is clear: If the Dean, Provost or President doesn’t like your department, they can cut it without due process.
Our response needs to be clearer: The Stony Brook community won’t accept drastic cuts to the arts, humanities, or smaller programs. Education is for people, not profit.
Spread the word! Everyone is welcome: Faculty, Staff and Students.
The more of us the better! The administration has power, but so do we.
If we mobilize as a group, we can change this policy and stop these cuts.
Join us to Rally and March for the campus community on the administration on Wednesday May 10th, 12:30PM SAC Plaza.