Help Save the Program in Women's and Gender Studies at the U of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

[D W]

Dear Colleagues, The very successful and effective Program in Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Puerto Rico is currently being dismantled.  Concerned students, colleagues, and others are asking the administration to reconsider this decision and reinstate its funding.  The program's budget, which has been reduced from $23,000 to $900, supports coursework on gender and sexuality, including undergraduate courses that deal with the intersection between these topics and language. The elimination of this funding means the elimination of the aforementioned course offerings and related events for approximately 21,000 students. Please consider signing a letter of support to save the program.  You can sign anonymously or so that your name appears online.  I include an English translation of the letter below, as the letter is in Spanish:You can sign here:http://www.gopetition.com/petition/39182.htmlThank you,Don E. Walicek, PhDAssistant Professor of EnglishUniversity of Puerto Rico, Rio PiedrasLetter of Support for the Program in Women's and Gender StudiesBackground: The Program in Women's and Gender Studies was created in 2001 by a mandate of the academic senate at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. Since its creation the Program has relied on a budget of $23,000 annually.  This budget covers the payment of professors who teach courses in the program each semester, the stipend of a student employee, and the remainder goes to expenses for forums, book presentations, colloquiums, and publications. In question is a modest budget that the Program has used effectively and responsibly.Denounce the Dismantling of the Program in Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio PiedrasThe Program in Women's and Gender Studies was created in 2001 by a mandate of the academic senate of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. Since its creation the Program has relied on a budget of $23,000 annually.  This budget covers the payment of professors who teach courses in the program each semester and the stipend of a student employee, while the remainder goes to expenses for forums, book presentations, colloquiums, and publications. In question here is a modest budget that the Program has used effectively and responsibly.On Friday, August 27th 2010, Dr. Mara Negrón, Coordinator of the Program, was informed that the budget had been reduced to $900 (for materials).  Neither the Dean of the Faculty of General Studies, Dr. Jorge Rodríguez Beruff, nor the Director of the Department of Social Sciences,  Dr Pedro Álvarez - the units to which the Program pertains for administrative reasons - included operating funds for the Program in the budget requests that are made in their annual reports.  Dr. Mara Negrón was marginalized from the process and excluded from all of the negotiations concerning the Program. The increase in the enrollment in courses offered by the Program, the success of the activities achieved by the Program, and the international prestige that it enjoys all attest to its effectiveness as well as the responsibility and seriousness with which the Coordinator and the members of the Program's committee of professors have used the economic funds previously authorized by the university.Why then condemn a successful academic program to die of starvation? Certainly the long-term result of the elimination of operating funds condemns this initiative to disappearance.  And not only this - why was it decided precisely to suppress the budget of a program that is dedicated to thinking about the construction and representation of gender in a country where gender-based violence is the principal cause of homicides?  What functionary has decided that gender issues are secondary and to be left aside when it involves educating in the contemporary world?  The economic crisis neither explains nor justifies the actions of the functionaries responsible for such a regrettable decision and the elimination of such a meager budget.  We denounce this situation, which at many levels implies discrimination on the basis of gender, given that we believe that this cut does not reflect an across the board reduction. We request that the university officials and interim Chancellor Ana Guadalupe Quiñones instruct the Faculty of General Studies so that the autonomy of the program and its representation by the coordinator will be respected and the necessary means are urgently taken to reinstate the Program. If this is not done then the program will not be able to maintain its course offerings beginning in January 2011.As part of the academic community, we ask that you, Interim Chancellor, Dr Ana Guadalupe Quiñones, urgently reinstate the funds of this program.  Signature, AffiliationMara Negrón, Universidad de Puerto RicoDon E. Walicek, Universidad de Puerto Rico
You can sign here:http://www.gopetition.com/petition/39182.html-- **********Don E. Walicekwalicek at gmail.comhttp://sites.google.com/site/profdonwalicek/Department of English, Faculty of General StudiesUniversity of Puerto Rico, Rio PiedrasVisit:  Sargasso, A Journal of Caribbean Language, Literature, & Culture

 		 	   		  
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