American Studies fate still uncertain
Tweet
Tensions ran high at a meeting Wednesday among about 20 graduate students and several officials from the College of Arts and Letters over the fate of the American Studies Program, or AMS.
Although the hour-and-a-half meeting addressed many of the students’ concerns, including funding for projects and potential limits placed on the number of graduate assistant positions, many left the meeting feeling uncertain about the program’s future. Some students went so far as to say they would consider dropping out of MSU if the program lost funding.
It was announced at the Oct. 30 MSU Board of Trustees meeting that the program potentially could be cut at all levels, along with dozens of other programs at MSU.
“Although questions were answered, it doesn’t seem like there was anything definitive that will help us move forward and feel confident,” AMS graduate student Natalie Graham said after the meeting. “I kind of feel like we’re still at where we started, even though the communication has happened.”
Karin Wurst, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, and Marilyn Frye, associate dean of graduate studies for the college, said at the meeting the college is exploring the possibility of adding AMS as a specialization in the Department of English.
Students at the meeting were persistent in asking whether the program faces complete dissolution from the university. They were adamant the program would lose value and greatly suffer by being incorporated into the English department, although both Frye and Wurst stopped short of saying the program completely would disappear.
“They have a lot of negotiating to do,” Frye said.
AMS graduate student Ben Phillips said reducing the program to an English specialization could cause future generations of students interested in the program to reconsider applying to MSU, which would cause the university to suffer.
“All I keep thinking of is, if AMS (was) just a track in English, I probably wouldn’t have applied,” Phillips said. “Students like us, with all of our interests, wouldn’t apply to Michigan State. And Michigan State would be losing out.”
Frye said officials chose to disinvest in AMS because, as an interdisciplinary program, it’s more vulnerable when financial problems occur. Also, the program is part of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures, which has placed more focus on the writing and rhetoric aspects in recent years.
“An interdisciplinary program is vulnerable if it doesn’t have a certain kind of webbed-ness with different departments,” Frye said. “Every single one has a different map of how they’re connected to different departments.”
The program will have a moratorium placed on admissions, Frye said, but AMS graduate students should know the outcome of negotiations with the English department before winter break.
Wurst said she understands students’ concerns, but said it was not up to her office to make the final decision.
“All of this is advisory to (Provost Kim Wilcox),” she said. “We could do whatever we wanted to, and it’s the provost that makes those decisions. We’re trying to make a solution for this so the program doesn’t just go away.”
Commentary
Add your $0.02, go to the comment form or follow the comment feed
student
(11/12/09 1:10am)Report
Even though I am a supporter of students’ rights, I have to say that I don’t see the problem of these graduate students. Yes, the program could lose funding but they wouldn’t be affected. Their professors and faculty will not go anywhere.
Their point that future generations will be affected for cuts is probably true, but it doesn’t have anything to do with their situation as current graduate students.
Those MA or PhD students in the AMS program will just graduate and go to work either in higher education or anywhere else. MSU will probably lose applicants for that program in the future but, again, that doesn’t mean that they will be notably affected. Also, dropping out will not help them either. Specifically, graduate credits are even more expensive than out of state and dropping out after putting on years of effort and, probably, thousands of dollars in loans already accumulated is not a very smart thing to do.
I just would encourage these students to just get their degrees, either or not they are not happy with the decisions the administration take for the future.
Unfortunately, universities that lack a strong research and hospital medical facilities suffer economic downturns more because these medical facilities contribute immensely with revenue sources and external funding that are shared with the rest of the academic programs that do not generate comparable external funding nor revenue. So, since MSU doesn’t have these strong and reliable medical facilities, the University is forced to cut those programs that probably rely too much on the budget without being productive in terms of revenue or external funding. They have to do this no matter the nature of the program because it’s the way it is. I mean, we all know that humanities doesn’t behave as science and, even though they provide great academic diversity and production, they are not that efficient in generating external funding. That’s just the way humanities are and most of that is due to lack of support for those programs from the government and other sources. Either way, some things just have to be done.
Again, I support these students and encourage them to get their degrees. We just hope that MSU develops a strong medical presence in Grand Rapids so the University can generate a strong revenue source and strong external funding to compensate and elevate the quality of other programs. Problems like the one we have right now at MSU are not due to only on cause. There are multiple causes that range from lack of overall alumni support and development in the medical education area to undergraduate tuition rates and others. Whatever the issue, there’s not perfect short term solution.
I encourage everybody to be supportive, innovative, critical and hope for the best.
GO GREEN! GO WHITE!
mvt
(11/12/09 10:39am)Report
Good post, Student, but perhaps a little strong regarding the Med-dependence. Everyone is suffering in this climate.
The most disturbing part of the article is the comments of Mr. Phillips who seems to think that MSU would ‘suffer’ without him and other students like him. The hubris is breathtaking.
AMS student
(11/12/09 11:47am)Report
A few issues:
Of course we’ll be affected if we don’t have funding. There will be no research or travel money for professional development, and no teaching assistantships for job training and to offset costs. Very few graduate students are in a position to complete their degrees without any funding, regardless of discipline. And without job training or professional development, few students are likely to get the teaching jobs they’re aiming for.
Moreover, by eliminating the program, our degrees become less valuable on the academic job market. Added to that, graduate students and faculty members see themselves as part of a broader community that includes past and future students in their program as well as people in their discipline at other institutions.
Many of the graduate students in American Studies are happy to join the English department, provided we are able to maintain some degree of autonomy and funding opportunities.
PT
(11/12/09 1:04pm)Report
Could someone please explain to me wtf this major entails
An MSU Professor
(11/12/09 3:27pm)Report
The previous comments represents the worst about MSU…
AMS students WILL NOT graduate with degree if they are not funded. I wonder if the previous poster realizes that AMS international students are unable to apply for fenderal loans and therefore depend on program funding? I wonder if they’ve consiered that those with children require funding through TA lines in order to complete their education? how do you suppose STUDENT PAY THEIR RENT??
Moreover, finishing their degrees is a moot point when one considers that they will have a degree from a program that NO LONGER EXISTS. This is incredibly damaging to their reputations as well as their ability to compete on the job market.
On that score, let me point out there currently IS NO JOB MARKET FOR AMS. What there is are a couple jobs posted in that area, which does NOT constitute a market. Competing in this environment is made all the more difficult with a lame- duck degree. Clearly, the previos poster has no conception of how academia works.
Let me be clear: This “restructuring” is not the result of this financial crisis—it is the reason for it. It is the result of larger trends intent which for the past 30 years have organized the transfer of wealth, privilege, opportunities, and resources from the public to the private sphere in this state and at this university. That Michigan State’s president has received a 55% pay increase within the first few years of her tenure while students, faculty, and other employees in that time have received no more than 10%, only testifies the current widespread redistribution of power across the university. While students incur higher tuition rates, larger classes, and now, fewer areas of study for what is otherwise the same education, others are pocketing the difference. Only 1/4th of the university’s funding for higher education comes from the state itself. The rest comes from the private sector. Thus, restructuring, is not the end of “big government”—it is the beginning of the end of public education.
What gets lost in this restructuring is a consideration for the university’s mission. The question is what exactly does the university value when it decides on the dismantling of one of its programs in the humanities? If the increasing trend of this public institution towards private money and private power is any indication, it follows that the only programs that matter are those which are geared to making students produce as opposed to provide them with ways of thinking.
Apparently, this poster feels that only those programs which can form corporate ties are those which should be protected while everyone else will simply have to fend for themselves.
It is exactly that attitude which has been the bane of public education for the last 30 years and the basis for miseducation.
AMS at MSU is the 5th ranked program in the nation and the most visible in the college. It is home to two top tier academic journals which are read world wide. Eliminating the program is simply an excuse to produce a “sacrificial lamb” to those who will profit most: the administration.
Confused
(11/12/09 8:19pm)Report
An MSU Professor said, “On that score, let me point out there currently IS NO JOB MARKET FOR AMS.” So it makes sense to me that this degree is not necessary. Am I missing something?
AMS Supporter
(11/12/09 10:03pm)Report
Although I am an American Studies student at another university, I agree that the loss of the AMS program at MSU is a loss to the entire field, as well as to MSU itself. A university is only as strong as the programs and degrees it offers – and the students who seek those degrees. Some may ask why the field is important, or misguidedly question the value of a degree in AMS, but all that really demonstrates is a lack of cultural awareness, and a tunnel vision-like view of the world around them. A large part of higher education is learning how to critically engage with the world around you, and the elimination of the AMS program hurts not only graduate students, but undergrads as well.
While the job market for AMS degrees might be lacking, it is not indicative of a weakness of the field, but rather shows the lack of value placed on the Humanities in general. The result is a state of higher education that has become a sort of degree mill, where students only go to spend 4-6 years in between high school and entering the job market. I’ve talked to undergrads who do not see the value in learning about cultural diversity because they do not see how it is relevant to their degree in, say, business. To them, and all those who feel the same, I would only say good luck in trying to successfully navigate the business world (or whatever field you may enter) without even a marginal understanding of the interconnectedness of gender studies, ethnic studies, popular culture, material culture, and so on.
Another MSU prof
(11/13/09 7:21am)Report
The graduate program in American Studies is not part of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures. It is a stand-alone program and has been since 1967.