Last semester, if you really wanted to study Japanese at Binghamton University, you had to major in Asian-and-Asian-American-Studies-with-an-East-Asian-Specialization-in-Japanese. (Saying that fast was probably the trickiest linguistic shuffle you performed until you hit the upper-level classes.) Now, after years of red-tape cutting and logistical dilly-dallying — from individual professors all the way up to the New York State Department of Education — you can major in just, well, Japanese.
The same goes for Korean and Chinese. BU now offers majors in all three languages, as opposed to the specializations and concentrations offered in years past.
We’re certainly happy about it. It’s always refreshing to see an expansion of any department at this University that isn’t big ticket — i.e. engineering or management. Even if we support and are proud of our school’s pre-professional programs, we appreciate BU’s roots in the liberal arts. The study of languages is certainly part of that tradition. Other schools have not been so lucky.
SUNY Albany made national news in October when the school opted to destroy several language departments — namely French, Italian and Russian. According to the Albany Student Press, over 300 students gathered at their Campus Center to protest the linguistic letdown — a demonstration organized by Albany’s chapter of the New York Public Interest Research Group. Go figure.
Albany was facing millions of dollars in lost state funding. BU faced the same budget-breaking cuts. Thankfully, we still have a theater department.
So how is Binghamton managing to pay for its existing departments, much less financing the creation of new ones?
Somewhat obviously, through nonstate funding. BU teamed up with philanthropic and cultural foundations to get the new majors in Japanese, Korean and Chinese off the ground. One of our new benefactors, the Freeman Foundation, charitably supports any number of projects, from art festivals to end-of-life care at hospice centers.
Other new partners include the Korea Foundation and Japan Foundation — and unlike the Freeman Foundation, their missions are highly specific. Both were founded through their countries’ respective national legislatures, and they are government entities that seek to foster the study of their nation’s language and culture across the globe. BU has had an official relationship with their more interestingly named Chinese equivalent, the Confucius Institute, since 2009. Oddly enough, money from Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing now sponsors classes in good ol’ Vestal, N.Y.
Given the aforementioned draconian cuts in state money to SUNY, Binghamton does well to take advantage of these creative avenues for funding. If this University has to go to East Asia to build up a more robust language program, then that’s where it should go.
But as long as there are no real academic strings attached to the money — as long as, say, our modern Chinese history curriculum isn’t set by the politburo — we’re glad that Binghamton is able to offer new, high-demand programs at a low cost.
But since this is merely seed money, and since BU is planning to sustain these departments after the funding expires, we have to wonder where that money will come from three years down the road.
We’re concerned most of all for programs that will never have foreign money thrown at them. Asian languages might have made it onto the lifeboat. The only question is: Who do we go to for funding on English or American history?