Wharton could be hurt by by Jap. Studies end

With the future of the graduate Japanese Studies program up in the air, officials in both the Wharton School and the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies said yesterday they are unsure how closing the program could affect students. The Wharton School currently offers a humanities course with "a Japanese cultural perspective" taught by Japanese Professor and Japanese Studies graduate program Director William Lafleur, according to David Reibstein, head of the Wharton graduate division. "[Although] it is unclear whether the program will continue or not, it does benefit Wharton," Reibstein said. "[But without it] we will survive and move onward." "It is a loss for the University and for the Wharton School," he added. And while the current state of the program does not affect the Lauder Institute, it could be hurt if the department gets any smaller. "It will not drastically alter our program unless there are further changes," said Marcy Bevan, a Lauder Institute spokesperson. "One doesn't know what is going to happen." Reibstein said that while Japanese Studies is not a "major" part of the MBA curriculum, a large number of students do study Japan and Japanese. Both Wharton and Lauder currently supplement their Japanese Studies curricula "from services outside the University." Bevan said Lauder hardly uses the graduate program and that "most of our program would continue" should the program be shut down completely. "We would prefer to have a graduate program," Bevan added. The University decided earlier this month not to accept students into the graduate program of Japanese Studies due to a lack of faculty specializing in the area. The current status of the decision is unknown. Lafleur is in Japan for the rest of the month and could not be reached for comment.

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