HELP for Russ Lit

[Paul A. Klanderud]

I see we have yet another episode in a sporadic string of planned or
anticipated department closings over the last year or so.

Naturally, we're alarmed; I'm curious, though, as to how these closings (and
others involving different disciplines in the liberal arts), are viewed by
the "general public."  Certainly we can't expect the same level of concern,
but having been out in the so-called real world for the last year or so, and
having talked quite a bit to people who perceive academia *very* differently
from those abiding directly in academe, I can simply state that a fair
number of people (but not all) receive this sort of news not with dismay,
but even with a bit of satisfaction.

These are not uneducated people. The reasons they in no way bemoan these
cuts in academics vary somewhat, but generally seem to come back to several
central focal points. If anyone's interested, I could share them, although
I'd guess if anyone currently in academics thought about it, these reasons
would come to them on their own.

We can talk all we want about the realities of academics and the value of a
liberal arts education, and we can even be right; but when what *we*
perceive as reality, and as valuable, no longer meshes with the
*perceptions* of our communities at large (and when I say "at large," I
really mean "at large"), then perhaps it's time to ask ourselves to change
rather than expecting the rest of the world to adapt to us.

Paul Klanderud