Letter of Protest to SUNY-Albany
Tony Anemone
AnemoneA at NEWSCHOOL.EDU
Wed Oct 6 20:33:11 UTC 2010
I was number 261.
Tony Anemone
On Oct 6, 2010, at 2:23 PM, Michele A. Berdy wrote:
> Now up to 22...
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Schillinger" <jschill at AMERICAN.EDU>
> To: <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 10:17 PM
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Letter of Protest to SUNY-Albany
>
>
>> I second Miichael's response! Only 7 have signed so far.......
>>
>>
>> John Schillinger
>> On Oct 6, 2010, at 2:13 PM, Katz, Michael R. wrote:
>>
>>> Great idea!
>>>
>>> Michael Katz
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] on behalf of Josh Wilson [jwilson at SRAS.ORG]
>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 2:02 PM
>>> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Letter of Protest to SUNY-Albany
>>>
>>> http://www.petitiononline.com/SUNY/petition.html
>>>
>>> Assuming that Chuck and no one else objects, perhaps we could all send this letter this way?
>>>
>>> Josh Wilson
>>> Assistant Director
>>> The School of Russian and Asian Studies
>>> Editor in Chief
>>> Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
>>> SRAS.org
>>> jwilson at sras.org
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Chuck Arndt
>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 7:17 PM
>>> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Letter of Protest to SUNY-Albany
>>>
>>> Dear Colleagues:
>>>
>>> I want to thank everyone who posted on SEELANGS concerning the closing of the French, Russian, and Italian departments at SUNY Albany. My colleagues and I here at Union College were shocked and dismayed by the news. As neighbors to SUNY Albany, many of us know, personally, the modern-language faculty there and how incredibly dedicated they are. As the Department Modern Languages and Literatures at Union College, we have composed a letter to go both to the SUNY administration as well as state senators and assembly members.
>>>
>>> The letter may undergo some last-minute changes, but I wanted to share it with the SEELANGS community while the issue is still hot. People can use the letter below as a template, point of reference, or do something completely different -"дело ваше" как говорится. I hope, however, that all of us will keep writing SUNY Albany and bombard the university with a mass of feedback, which might cause them to reconsider. Writing state senators and other policy-makers is also a great idea, as has been pointed out (especially considering that, as has been pointed out, elections are coming soon). If anyone has other ideas, please post them and I will try to relay them to the rest of our department. Because SUNY Albany is the flagship university for such a multi- ethnic state, we think this is a battle worth fighting. Please see letter below:
>>>
>>>
>>> Заранее блaгодарю!
>>>
>>> Charles Arndt
>>> Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian
>>> Union College
>>> Schenectady, NY 12309
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> To the Administration of SUNY-Albany
>>>
>>> To local State Senators and Assembly
>>> Members
>>>
>>> To the US Representative from the 21st
>>> District
>>>
>>> To
>>> Members of the Press
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> We
>>> at the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at Union College would like
>>> to express our concern and dismay at the decision recently taken up by the
>>> president and his advisory board to eliminate French, Russian, and Italian from
>>> SUNY Albany’s curriculum.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Not
>>> only are we concerned for our colleagues at SUNY Albany, whom we know to be
>>> dedicated professionals and committed to their students, but we are also
>>> gravely disturbed by the irrevocable damage this would do to SUNY Albany’s
>>> reputation and the students at SUNY Albany, to their opportunities, and to
>>> their ability to succeed in our global environment. Furthermore, we feel the decision
>>> contradicts SUNY Albany’s stated values of diversity and “giving its students
>>> first-hand international experience” (SUNY’s Strategic Plan 2010, p. 19), and
>>> even its logo (until very recently) of “The World Within Reach.” As a major
>>> institution of learning, SUNY Albany’s reputation could very well slide
>>> downward as a result of being unable to provide its students with skills that
>>> most other comparable universities provide.
>>> Lastly, the way the decision was reached in no way allowed for students
>>> or faculty to contribute to a decision which affects their futures.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> As
>>> a university representing a large section of New York State’s population, SUNY
>>> Albany has an obligation to prepare its students for our global environment,
>>> and this naturally includes the ability to speak and understand foreign
>>> languages. According to the Académie
>>> Francaise, the French-speaking world includes around 60 countries worldwide
>>> (approximately 500 million people).
>>> French is the international language of trade and business, one of the
>>> major languages in the European Union, one of the eight UN languages, and a
>>> language spoken on five continents. Moreover, Canada is our country’s largest
>>> trading partner, with French-speaking Quebec (this one province alone) our 6th
>>> largest trading partner.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> As
>>> for Russian (which is also one of 8 UN languages), the move by SUNY Albany’s
>>> president comes at a time when the US State
>>> Department and the US Department of Defense both recognize Russian as a
>>> “critical need foreign language” and has begun awarding money through the
>>> Foreign Language Assistance Program to secondary schools across the country,
>>> specifically in order to teach Russian and other “Critical Languages.” It appears
>>> SUNY Albany will not even be in the running regarding this national initiative,
>>> since it will not be able to continue the students’ Russian. Furthermore, we
>>> have been informed by our colleagues that this means there will be no Russian
>>> major anywhere in the SUNY system, a stunning fact for the Empire State with
>>> its internationalist orientation and large Russian population.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Lastly, for a major university not
>>> to recognize the importance of Italian language simply seems inconceivable in a
>>> state with such a large Italian-American population, to say nothing of the
>>> enormous influence of Italian culture on this state and the world.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> We believe the actions of president of
>>> SUNY Albany and his advisory board resulting in the destruction of entire
>>> programs are unprecedented in their rashness and scope. They will severely
>>> diminish their students’ competitiveness in a world that is becoming more, and
>>> not less, integrated. If these moves are
>>> implemented, SUNY-Albany will be alone nation-wide among major universities in
>>> closing an entire French program, and nowhere in the entire system will a
>>> student be able to have a Russian major.
>>> We cannot see how SUNY Albany can propose to “send students abroad”
>>> (SUNY’s Strategic Plan 2010, p. 19), without being embarrassed and ashamed that
>>> they will be some of the few students from a major university unable to
>>> communicate with so many peoples of the world. We hope that the president and
>>> administration at SUNY Albany will reconsider this destructive action. We hope that policy-makers in Albany will
>>> take note of how much less competitive this will make students of this great
>>> state and will work to find a better
>>> alternative to this unprecedented move.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Respectfully
>>> Yours,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Prof.
>>> Cheikh Ndiaye
>>>
>>> Chair,
>>> Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> For himself and
>>> all 25 members of the Department in multiple language programs, unanimously
>>> united
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>> John Schillinger
>> Emeritus Prof. of Russian
>> American University
>> 192 High St.
>> Strasburg VA, 22657
>> Ph. (540) 465-2828
>>
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