Aaron D. Neufeld

Aaron D. Neufeld- BLOG #18- ‘The Economy and School’

In one of my CCS classes last week, my professor walked in seemingly quite annoyed. She spoke out about how she had just returned from a meeting in which the state of the arts classes at Stony Brook was seriously discussed. She said that due to budget cuts, Stony Brook and other SUNY schools are in serious discussions about cutting back or eliminating arts programs like Cinema and Cultural Studies (CCS), art, and music programs all together.

This is a very serious issue on so many levels. One major issue is the major issue! Many students are already upper level students who have chosen a major and have invested a lot of time and money in order to take certain courses towards a field they are interested in. With the elimination of these courses and programs, what will be left for these students to do? The SUNY system can’t simply eliminate prgrams and tell students that the program can be continued and offered elsewhere because many students rent or buy homes here, as well as have jobs here. This is a very serious issue and eliminating the programs these students need is unacceptable.

The same applies for the professors and teachers of these programs. Is the SUNY system going to put all of of these people out of work because of the budget cuts? Is diversity in the working world no longer necessary? Are we all supposed to take on a trade? Must we all work in the medical field? Even cut backs in funding for these programs would be unacceptable as thus would force students to extend their college careers, staying in school longer, paying for the same amount of classes but waiting for them to be offered and paying for their dorms and other living conditions all the meanwhile.