Endangered Program Seeks Support--Norwich Russian School

[David J. Galloway]

Dear Seelangers,
        Once again we solicit your support for a program under threat of
elimination.  The letter below contains the specific details.
        We are not seeking letters in general from the field, but from those who
have had contact with the Norwich Russian School--students, faculty, etc.
If you have had a positive relationship with the School, please make this
explicit in your letter of support.  It is hoped that this approach will be
more effective, since it will highlight those who have benefited from the
programs at the Russian School.
        This information will be posted on the Endangered Languages page
(http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~aatseel/endangered-programs/index.html)
shortly.
        I am posting this message for Ms. McNicol and the Russian School--if you
have questions regarding the closing, please contact her directly for more
information.

Thank you in advance for your support.

David J. Galloway



>Mr. Galloway,
>       My name is Shannan McNicol, and I am the Program Coordinator of the
>Norwich University Russian School.  On December 20th, I received a call
>from someone at Norwich telling me that the President and his Cabinet
>have made the decision to close the Russian School.  This happened while
>I was on a recruiting trip to the west coast, with no forewarning of such
>a decision being considered let alone made while I was away.
>       The Russian School has been threatened for the past couple of years
>to be closed if enrollments did not increase, but we seemed to have
>survived each year by the skin of our teeth.
>       This is my first year working at Norwich (I am a recent Alum) and I
>am very upset with the administration at Norwich for their actions.  They
>are claiming that the Russian School is losing money and the President
>does not want to subsidize our program any longer. He must have forgotten
>that the Russian School subsidized Norwich when we were serving 350
>students a summer and sending people to Middlebury as a second choice.
>Our Foreign Language department chair has forgotten that the
>state-of-the-art new language lab was provided by a grant for the Russian
>School.
>       Norwich has hosted many people over its 39 year history, and we have
>suffered the same hardships in recent years as other programs have.
>However, we are the only academic program at Norwich that is
>internationally known with a wonderful reputation in the field of Slavic
>Languages.  Norwich says that it supports academics, but this decision to
>cut the strongest academic program at the institution denies that claim.
>       I am still fighting this decision, and I will not give up easily.
>If anyone can send letters of support, please send them to:
>Norwich University Russian School
>65 S. Main Street
>Northfield, VT 05663
>russian at norwich.edu
>       One way that we can save our program is if our numbers increase.
>This means our inquiry numbers.  So, if anyone is interested in Norwich,
>or knows anyone else that is interested, please contact us at the above
>address or by calling (802)828-8665.
>
>Thank you for your support!
>
>********************************************
>Shannan McNicol        phone:  1-800-468-6679 x8665
>               fax:    802-828-8585
>Program Coordinator
>Norwich Russian School
>http://www.norwich.edu/grad/russian/
>********************************************