About 20 students and faculty members, most of them affiliated with Binghamton University’s Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture (PIC) graduate department, which lost the official support of the University administration this semester, met at 3 p.m. yesterday in New University Union room 325 for a “teach-in” about the status of the program.

The PIC department, which typically averages an enrollment of 50 to 60 students, according to BU Interim Provost Jean-Pierre Mileur, takes an interdisciplinary approach to various discourses in the humanities and social sciences.

The University took down PIC’s web pages from www.binghamton.edu in October. That month BU also stopped recruiting or admitting any new students to the program, according to Mileur.

“The issue is a regulatory issue,” Mileur said in October. “Graduate programs have to be reviewed and approved at the State Education Department level. Over the years [PIC] has changed so much that we can no longer argue with a straight face that it’s the same program.”

PIC classes continue to run at present, at least until the students enrolled in the program graduate. Its future past this point is uncertain.

The teach-in was advertised to all BU students through Wednesday’s B-Line email.

When approached for comment, PIC Director Maria Lugones said she did not wish Pipe Dream to report about the teach-in. She asked the PIC students present if they wished to bar this reporter from the room, but they chose not to do so.

Patrick Crowley, a graduate student in the comparative literature department, said that PIC was being undercut because it is not as profitable as other departments.

“What is the kind of knowledge that the University is trying to prevent? The distinction between public and private universities is getting more and more difficult to see,” Crowley said. “The public university is funded by a state and must now rely more on the market and become more of a tool for the market.”

Another graduate student in the PIC department, who requested not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic, called on BU’s administration to fully restore the PIC program.

“The future of PIC depends on administrative support of PIC,” the student said. “Without the administrative support, there will be no PIC. What the administration is willing to do to make PIC a strong and viable graduate program will affect where the program goes from here.”

The student described PIC as very important for students and BU as well.

“When the University got rid of PIC, this set the precedent for what the administration can do,” the student said. “They closed down this program without letting any of the students know.”