Grad group weighs in on cuts

School of Arts and Sciences graduate students are angry, confused and disappointed. The Graduate Student Associations Council unanimously passed a resolution yesterday criticizing the handling of recommendations calling for the elimination of three departments. The resolution said the proposals were made "without consulting the leaders of GSAC or the graduate student associations of those departments targeted for elimination." GSAC's resolution further calls upon the administration to "reexamine its priorities, consult the appropriate graduate student associations, and extend increased support to the School of Arts and Sciences." A key question discussed at yesterday's GSAC meeting was whether the cuts would actually save the school money. "This basically boils down to finances," said GSAC President Rhonda Williams. "We'd like to see the actual figures on it." Members also expressed concern over the lack of direct communication of the dean's proposals to students. Jerome Bauer, GSAC's vice president for academic affairs, said the late timing of the resolution stemmed in part from the slow dissemination of SAS Dean Rosemary Stevens' proposal. "We do have a complaint that we were not consulted," said Bauer. "This is really a discourtesy to GSAC and the other graduate student councils." GSAC Treasurer Edward Baptist said he is concerned that merging a department like American Civilization with History would result in the loss of Am Civ's unique identity. "When the Am Civ professors retire," said Baptist, "there won't be anymore Am Civ people – there will be just history people." While current graduate students in the affected departments will still receive degrees from their programs, many worry about their department's ultimate fate. Regional science student Toni Horst said one of reasons she came to the University was her department's uniqueness. "The drawing card here is the department, not the University," Horst said. "It's unbelievable that they want to close it. "We are cycling between feelings of disappointment and frustration – but we're hoping that the dean listens to these letters of support," she added. Marcos Campos, another regional science student, said he was surprised and confused over the timing off the announcement. "The new students' class was fairly large, and then two weeks after classes start?this kind of plan comes out of the blue," he said. "It's not very democratic." Am Civ graduate student Jennifer Knuth said she feels the school's priorities are wrong. "They seem to be supporting departments that bring in more money than departments that offer unique scholarship," she said. "It's too bad when people start staking claims, because that's not conducive to scholarship."