Firing 14 at Midyear to Save $270,000

To the Editor:

What a thrill it was to see the Louisiana State University Jazz Funeral for Higher Education splashed all over The Chronicle‘s Web site (“At Rallies Across the Country, Students Turn Out in Defense of Public Education,” October 7). One of the things that got 400 faculty members and students riled up at this otherwise apathetic institution was the case of the Foreign Language 14. With $42-million in budget cuts mandated for the LSU campus for 2010-11, 14 foreign-language instructors are the only faculty members being dismissed in the middle of the academic year, for an approximate savings of $270,000. We have presented a very reasonable argument to the administration for extending our contracts—like those of 224 other instructors with endangered jobs—through August 2011, but we have been told that “we live in hard economic times,” and “the money simply isn’t there.”

Never mind that the graduation requirements for hundreds of students are jeopardized. Never mind that the department of foreign languages and literatures was targeted in covert meetings over the summer. Never mind that the administration is making unilateral decisions that drastically affect the curriculum over which it has no such authority and for which there is, apparently, no accountability. Never mind that one of those instructors provides the only foreign-language option for students with disabilities. Never mind that Japanese, Russian, Swahili, and Portuguese will no longer be taught at LSU. Never mind that the classics, Italian, and German faculties have been cut in half. The administration stands by its decision to dismiss these 14 faculty members, as of January 2011, “given the budget situation.”

The arbitrariness of these actions has created an atmosphere of distrust and fear at LSU. The Foreign Language 14 believes that Louisiana State University is setting a dangerous precedent, and, despite the odds, we are determined to fight to save foreign languages at this once-noble institution.

Johanna Sandrock
Angelika Roy
Instructors
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, La.
The writers describe themselves as “Proud members of the Foreign Language 14.”