While the announcement of the cuts to the Sociology major and minor, Spanish and Spanish Education Major and Fine Arts major occurred over a month ago, their impact is still being felt, especially by the students and professors who have devoted their time to fields that are no longer being offered by Elizabethtown College.
The 13 full-time professors in the impacted majors and minors, in response to being cut, have been making plans for what they want to do once they stop teaching Etown. Since the cuts were not expected by these faculty before they were informed, many have had to restructure how their lives will look in the upcoming years.
“I have no definite plans yet. I have told myself I am not finished teaching because I love teaching,” Professor of Art Milt Friedly said. “Besides being an artist, teaching has been my calling for the past 40 years.”
Others do not want to return to the higher education field.
“I have taught fitness classes since high school. I have over 2000 hours of teaching experience and I have over 500 hours of classroom instruction for yoga meaning I am ACE-certified,” Dr. Charla Lorzen said. “So I will be opening my own yoga studio. I want to have at least one yoga class in Spanish or at least private classes in Spanish to be inclusive and open up to more people, and so I can train future teachers who already speak Spanish but want to be yoga teachers.”
In addition, Lorenzen has been tutoring languages for all ages on the side. Students can also keep up to date with Lorenzen’s pursuits through bewellwithcharlita.com and are encouraged to reach out and stay in touch with Lorenzen.
Another professor impacted by the cuts that the Etownian reached out to declined to comment on their future plans and how their program will be impacted by cuts at this time due to advice from their legal counsel.
Since the cuts are not beginning until the 2025-2026 school year, professors impacted by it are continuing to teach at Etown in the spring semester. They have also been able to keep their regular load of coursework for that major and the core program.
However, the energy and enthusiasm in the upcoming semester may not be the same as professors and students alike navigate the loss.
“My heart goes out to the students. I feel we came up short to provide the best education and experience for those in our program,” Friedly said.” I think we lost a lot of momentum since the announcements and that appears to be natural, as many would predict. We will go away with a sadness in our hearts.”
“We are only obligated to teach, so I’m advising minimally and telling my students, I’m sorry but I’m not going to spend much time on campus because I have to pursue another career and I have to get health insurance,” Lorenzen said. “I will come in to teach my class, but I’m not spending a lot of time in my office, I’m not advising the Spanish club, and I’m not going to be as involved on campus as I used to be.”
Students have the same benefit of at least having next semester to finish out their intended major and/or minors with the full-time faculty. For those in their upper years of their education year at Etown, this may give them the opportunity to have their progression unaffected.
“Due to the fact that I am a double major and have two minors, a lot of my classes overlap across my sociology major,” junior Em Clark said. ”I was able to meet with my sociology advisor to discuss a plan for the future, and because I had so many class options, I was able to finish out my major next semester.”
Other students, such as those who are sophomores or those who came in as first-years hoping to major in one of the cut programs, may not have the same ease in the future when selecting courses to meet the program requirements. Although all students who are declared in their majors and minors have been guaranteed the opportunity to finish them out at Etown, not every student may want to as many choose to attend Etown or at least not continue to pursue those major and minors due to valuing quality and variety of staff and being able to take specific and relevant courses for their majors and minors.
Some students’ advisors, even, may have been the full-time faculty being cut, meaning that students only had one last opportunity to meet with the advisor that has been supporting them across their years at Etown.
Overall, the loss of programs at Etown has left many in the community impacted and will continue to affect courses offered in the years to come, although the extent of this is not completely understood at this point.
