University of Wisconsin Stevens Point students, faculty stage sit-in to protest cuts to humanities
By
Jacob Crosse and Christopher Davion
4 April 2018
On Wednesday, March 21 more than 300 students and professors at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point (UWSP) marched together and occupied an administration building in response to the proposed elimination of 13 majors and demanding their right to a liberal arts education. As part of the protest, students sent the university’s chancellor and administration a letter requesting to work with the university’s administration to create alternative proposals that will not cut any humanities programs.
Students held signs, reading, “Where’s your Humanity? It’s been Cut!” Mackenzie Madison, an art student, lamented the possible loss of the nationally accredited art department, telling Wisconsin Public Radio, “I’m really infuriated. The art department is what brought me here. The art department is what defines this campus. It’s a big part of this community.”
Earlier in March, administration officials announced a proposal to eliminate 13 academic majors from UWSP’s humanities programs, a move which has drawn widespread anger from students and professors, as well as national notoriety. The proposal has been framed as a necessary cost-cutting solution to resolve the school’s projected deficit of $4.5 million over the next two years and stabilize declining enrollment.
The money to fund high quality public education, including the humanities, is readily available. The effort to slash the humanities at UWSP in order to cover a comparatively modest budget shortfall comes amid immense levels of social inequality in the United States and record profits for the wealthy. Wisconsin’s nine richest people control nearly…