Last Friday, USM’s lone German professor sent an e-mail to her students telling them the University will likely cut the German studies major due to a lack of enrollment.
Students concerned about the elimination of the German program are planning to protest at 1 p.m. Wednesday on the Portland campus outside the School of Law, the building that houses the offices of USM’s vice presidents and President Selma Botman.
“I’m hoping the protest will attract attention and if enough students come the University will see how much this means to us and how hard we’re willing to fight,” said Erin Gainey, the only active German studies major.
The protest is organized by current students of Angela Gulielmetti, who stands to lose her job if the University goes through with the proposal to cut German studies.
The University is expected to announce next semester the elimination of the program, which has graduated one student in the last three years.
The news comes during a period of drastic change for USM, as the college deans consider eliminating programs that routinely graduate fewer than five students a year, and the University prepares to implement a “Strategic Plan” designed to streamline costs and boost revenues.
“Under Board of Trustees’ policy, all University of Maine System campuses are required to review those programs that graduate an average of five or fewer students per year over a three-year period,” said Provost Kate Forhan in an e-mail to faculty Tuesday evening.
USM Spokesman Bob Caswell said no final decisions have been made, but “it’s virtually certain the program will be eliminated.”
“Currently there are four students who are enrolled in the program, only one of whom is active this semester,” he said. “Three others have declared a major but are not enrolled.”
Forhan said the University would suspend admission into the program after the announcement is made, but continue to offer courses if students need them to graduate.
“Any currently enrolled student who is taking German, we will ensure that course is offered until they have earned their degree,” said Caswell.
But Gulielmetti said she was blindsided by the announcement.
“The administration has never talked to me about it. This year has been such a robust year, so I was completely shocked,” said Gulielmetti, who currently has 37 students in two sections of German I and seven students in German II.
While there are few German majors, she said much of the enrollment is tied to other departments like theater and opera singers in the music program. Gulielmetti said there are at least three students graduating this year with minors in German.
Forhan and Susan Picinich, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, met with Gulielmetti and Modern and Classical Language and Literature Chair Jeannine Uzzi last Friday to give a “frank appraisal” of the German studies program. University administrators have said the elimination of German studies has nothing to do with Gulielmetti’s performance as a professor.
“I find it completely ridiculous that they’re even considering letting her go because she does not deserve it,” said Gainey. “Not only have I learned more in her class than I have in any other class I have ever taken at USM, but she is also one of the kindest and really makes an effort to get to know her students.”
“They said it has to go to the Board of Trustees,” said Gulielmetti of the meeting. “To me it sounds like a decision has been made. I walked out of that meeting with the feeling that the position has been cut. They talked about writing letters to help me find jobs elsewhere.”
Gainey has been studying the language since she was 14 and can’t imagine a life without it.
“It’s the most engaging class that I’ve ever had,” she said Tuesday evening.
“German has become a part of my life and I was crying like someone had died. German was my reason for going to USM so if they take it away I will be crushed and completely lost.”
“I currently have no back up plans if they stop offering German. I’ve been told that USM has to honor my major and all of its requirements but I have no idea what that entails. I’ve been told that UMO offers online classes and this may be my only option,” she said.
Uzzi was also caught off guard. While she suspected the program was in danger of being cut, Uzzi said she had no inkling that Gulielmetti’s position would be eliminated.
“Her talents could be used elsewhere,” she said. Gulielmetti’s research focuses on Holocaust studies, in particular, how Nazi propaganda portrayed Jews in children’s literature.
“That topic is perfect for an EYE class,” said Uzzi, referring to the multi-disciplinary Entry Year Experience classes that incoming freshmen will be required to take in 2011.
The current contract between AFUM-the faculty union-and the University of Maine System requires faculty to be informed no later than June 30 if they are slated to be fired. “We will not wait that long,” to announce the decision, said Caswell. “The final decision will be made sometime in the coming semester, probably by the end of March.”
Gulielmetti has been teaching German at USM for five years. She was expecting to get tenure next year. Forhan denied the proposal to cut Gulielmetti’s position is an attempt to prevent her from getting tenure, but “because she is untenured, we wanted to give her enough of a heads-up as possible” to find another job, she said.
Administrators have been quiet about other departments on the chopping block. The University is likely to cut more programs in coming months as it seeks to offset ever-dwindling state appropriations and declining enrollment.
Forhan said these decisions aren’t easy. “No provost, no dean, no president goes into this business to close programs,” she said. There are “huge human costs,” she added.