Lebanon Valley College’s Board of Trustees announced its plans to cut academic funding by $1.6 million. Humanities majors are expected to be targeted by these cuts, which may result in the elimination of low-enrollment majors such as French, German, philosophy and religion. There are only 12 students currently enrolled in all majors considered for elimination combined, according to the FAQ page on the LVC website.

“We’re at a position at the college where we feel we need to look at all of our programs and decide: can we continue to do everything that we’re doing and do we need to start reallocating resources?” LVC Vice President of Academic Affairs Michael Green told WGAL News 8.

The LVC Board of Trustees recommended this budget cut, and the faculty will vote on the revised academic plans in November. In February 2019, their Board of Trustees will vote on the recommendations passed by the faculty.

LVC students and alumni reacted to the announcement with concern. In an open letter and survey to the LVC administration, students and alumni shared their concerns of cutting the aforementioned humanities departments. Students and alumni could also submit anonymous comments attached to the Google Survey to address specific concerns.

LVC President Lewis Thayne clarified in a note to the community how the low-enrollment majors and departments will be affected should this budget cut proposal pass as it currently stands.

“Rest assured that students in any majors that are eliminated will be able to finish out their LVC degree in their major of choice, and they will be able to do so on time,” Thayne said in the letter to the LVC community. “It’s also important to note that eliminating a major does not necessarily mean eliminating all courses in a discipline.”

LVC will still offer 100- and potentially 200- level courses in these disciplines where it is able.

LVC students and alumni still worry over a shift away from the liberal arts model, fearing a prioritization of health sciences and other STEM disciplines over the humanities. LVC, on its FAQ page for the academic updates, assured this was not the case.

LVC has needed to cut low-enrollment programs before to meet budgetary needs, so the current revision of the offered disciplines reflects the institution’s history of an evolving curriculum. Additionally, LVC assures that through its core program it will continue to ensure that students receive a well-rounded education at the institution that includes the humanities as well as other disciplines.

While LVC stated numerous times that it will continue to uphold a liberal arts model and provide educational opportunities in the humanities, the decision to reduce humanities disciplines sparked a conversation throughout the LVC community over the importance of a humanities education.

This conversation even reached Elizabethtown College as some students and professors weighed in on how they perceive the humanities to be important.

Etown sophomore Caitlin Rossiter is a double major in French and history, and she also minors in religious studies, a discipline which she added after coming to Etown.

“Since I’ve started studying humanities, I really feel like when I’m in situations that I’m not familiar with, I’m able to navigate better,” Rossiter said. “When I’m in a discussion or conversation and I am unsure of things, I am able to use the critical skills I’ve developed … to get my footing and figure out how to handle different topics and ideas.”

Associate professor of French Dr. Vanessa Borilot spoke of the smaller cohort size in Etown’s French department, which she said reflects national trends and are not just occurring at Etown.

This can be applied to LVC, which states on their website that only four students have French as their first, second or third majors. However, Borilot said she is saddened by other institutions reducing programs in the humanities.

“It also saddens me to see that in many, many ways, literature, culture and history are paying the price for [finances],” Borilot said. “It keeps me wondering what will happen to a full-rounded education.”

Both Borilot and Rossiter shared the importance of a humanities education for students across disciplines.

“I think it’s so important that people study things like foreign language, history and religious studies to understand what’s going on around us,” Rossiter said.

In terms of studying other languages, studying abroad and completing assignments in humanities courses, Borilot says these things allow students “to investigate questions that maybe they would have never thought about if they had never taken a class” in the humanities.

The LVC Board of Trustees will receive the proposal of academic changes from the faculty no later than Dec. 5, 2018, so the vote at the Board’s February meeting may proceed.

More information on the academic budget cuts, process and effects can be found at https://www.lvc.edu/alumni-giving/academic-updates/.