The Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture master’s and Ph.D. program is up against severe cuts that could force the graduate students in the program to find another discipline of study.
The program, which has been at Binghamton University since 1990, takes a critical approach to conventions of Western knowledge and culture. The cuts are aimed at graduate and teaching assistant positions.
In August the program will only offer four assistantships. Holding a position as teaching assistant or graduate assistant is necessary for these graduate students to earn their degree.
The program had 18 funded assistantships available in 2001, but over the years these programs were cut, leaving PIC down to nine assistantships in 2008. Multiple positions are available in each assistantship. The most recent cut occurred in February, and the four remaining assistantships are what stand in the University’s contract for next semester.
According to the program’s website, current PIC policy is to offer funding to all students accepted into the program.
“Teaching assistantship funding carries a stipend, a tuition scholarship and provides health insurance on application under the GSEU [Graduate Student Employees Union] contract,” the site said.
However, the program does not expect to have funding to offer students entering in fall 2010.
Approximately 40 students are currently enrolled in PIC, four of whom are expected to receive their Ph.D.s this spring, and two more who are expected to do so in the fall. The reduction of funding and assistantship positions could cause a delay for students working toward their degree.
Program director Joshua Price signed on in September 2009 and said the February cuts blindsided him.
He has met with the administration since the cuts were announced, including a meeting held Monday. Price said that there was not any significant progress, but that there was a “frank exchange.”
“If we do not get some support for graduate students, then I don’t see how this can be viable for the long term,” he said.
He plans to continue meeting with faculty and graduate students to find ways to help students continue with the program.
Graduate student Gabriel Piser is leading an effort to collect signatures for a petition to reinstate the assistantship positions that have already been cut. Piser has collected over 750 signatures, including those of people from Canada, Ireland, Barbados and the Philippines.
Xhercis Mendez, a graduate student in the PIC program, had two fully funded offers for graduate study at the University of Southern California and the University of California, San Diego, but she declined those offers to come to BU.
“I chose Binghamton because of PIC, because it housed such a cutting-edge program,” Mendez said.
Because the program is facing severe cuts, Mendez is concerned that the program will disappear, and that she will not have the funding to continue pursuing her degree.
“What does this mean for getting jobs after graduation?” Mendez said.
University spokeswoman Gail Glover said the cuts are part of BU’s response to reductions in state funding that the recession has made necessary.
Both Harpur College and the Graduate School are involved in deciding how PIC should be cut.
“It is unfortunate that we had to reduce funds to the PIC graduate program,” she said. “The students are conducting very interesting and important research and the program has been successful in placing graduates in good academic positions.”
Price said that the cuts reflect the values of the administration.
“In many ways the University and the state are gutting its own programs, undermining some of the most imaginative and cutting-edge programs,” he said. “What does that say about us, about our administration?”
Price remained concerned about the future careers of the graduate students who, without sustained funding, may not be able to remain in the program.
“For some of them, this is the end of the line,” he said. “They will have to begin all over again.”