By: Zachary Newkirk and Jacob Arem

In the face of mounting debt and a decreased endowment, Cornell’s administration made the decision in April of this year to cut the Dutch and Swedish programs beginning in the 2010-2011 academic year. In addition to the programs, two full staff positions will be eliminated. Cecilia Alm, a lecturer in Swedish, and Chrissy Hosea, a lecturer in Dutch, both became victims of the administration’s budget cuts.

Kevin Chung ’11, vice president of the Dutch Club, was active in protesting the university’s decision. “We feel like it was an unjustified decision on the administrative end. We’re not really sure why it got cut,” he said but expressed hope in a future meeting with the administration. He and his peers also want to make the languages more known to the student body.

Languages are particularly threatened by budget cuts. Dutch and Swedish combined account for a mere $90,000 annually. “The administration seems to want to cut languages because they are less threatening and not well known,” said Chung. He makes the reverse argument, saying that because they are not financially significant, they should not be cut. Quecha, for example, has already been cut and Turkish has been delegated to merely an online option. Compared to the millions about to be spent on renovating distant Stocking Hall, these languages cuts are a pittance.

Dutch and Swedish are not widely offered languages in the United States. According to the Dutch Club president Mary Godec ’10, only fifteen universities in the country offer these languages. Also, these programs are integral to graduate work. Cornell is a premier institution that boasts a strong Southeast Asian program and history program. The Netherlands played a strong role in the history of Southeast Asia region as well as the New York region. “It is a historic part of the university. Swedish was first taught in 1869, Dutch in 1883,” said Chung. Swedish and Dutch receive federal money for graduate students, course development, language training and European programming. “Obviously, when these programs are cut, so will federal funding,” said Chung.

Further, there is a language requirement in Cornell’s largest college, the College of Arts and Sciences. By effectively forcing students to take a foreign language, the policy is complemented by a diverse selection of language options. By cutting two potential languages for students, we suddenly have fewer options to fulfill requirements.

The Cornell Progressive understands the financial situation facing the university. With a recent endowment drop of 27% in late 2008 and early 2009, the university faces a serious budgetary landscape for the near future. However, the elimination of key academic programs challenges the very foundation of the institution. “Any person, any study” has been a cornerstone of our campus for nearly a century and a half.

While the elimination of the Swedish and Dutch programs would indeed save money, it would only make a small dent in recovering from a loss in the hundreds of millions. Recently, a group of students in the Student Assembly Environmental Committee have conducted studies that show that by turning off lights in twenty academic buildings at night, the university could save over $60,000 a year. By simply flipping a switch in a handful of buildings when no one is using them, Cornell would save two-thirds of the spending of the Swedish and Dutch programs as well as help the environment.

We commend the efforts of Jolyon Bloomfield, his fellow members of the Student Assembly, and the Cornell Sun for reporting these remarkable findings. They are exemplary in finding ways to save the university money in place of cutting key academic programs. Perhaps the university could introduce a policy that coordinates a building’s lights with its operating hours. For example, White Hall locks its doors at five in the evening but its lights remain blazing throughout the night. We find this usage unnecessary and financially and environmentally wasteful.

With this one example stemming from the work of active students, the university could save money. If we continue to be active like those on the Student Assembly Environment Committee, we can find more ways for the university to save money without threatening the academic diversity that makes Cornell such a unique and outstanding institution.

We encourage our readers to visit http://www.petitiononline.com/CUSOSD/

petition.html and sign the petition to “Save Our Swedish and Dutch”. We urge you to join the over 400 signatories to continue our time-honored tradition of “any person, any study”. While Swedish and Dutch may not directly affect you, what will stop the administration from cutting another program in the name of budget cuts?