There was an article recently published in the New York Times discussing liberal arts schools and how many of them are being forced to cut down, not only on classes, but also majors. Why are there less majors? Financial reasons. Sound familiar? We as students of Saint Rose are witnessing this ourselves. Students who know the backstory of Saint Rose know that we have gone through our own rounds of not just major cuts, but class cuts as well as recent as this year.
Majors have been disappearing left and right, starting in 2015, when we first lost majors like American studies, economics, geology, philosophy, and the list goes on. As recently as 2020, we went through cuts affecting mostly the art and music departments, but stretching as far as the education and science departments. As an English major myself, I’ve noticed the number of courses going down, especially at the higher levels. Across programs, we have professors that are leaving the school, which further limit the courses available to the student body, additionally as a sociology minor (since that major also was cut back in 2015).
There are very few classes running that students may actually want to take. What programs are safe from possible budget and class cuts? Did you know we used to have an entire art department? We had art classes that were available for all students to take, only for the entire program to leave. Especially looking at Saint Rose compared to other schools, which majors will be here by the time the freshman class graduates? When I was a bright-eyed freshman, I had not been aware of the major cuts. In fact, my crazy past self had decided to double major in forensic science and science education 6-12. This of course did not work out, with one major no longer existing and the other being difficult, I became stuck in English. As a junior now, I take comfort in knowing that the school will be here hopefully for at least two years.
What classes would you take if we had them at Saint Rose? I can think of at least three that I would enjoy, or some that we could even bring back. We used to have interesting classes like photography, crime fiction or even art history classes. With Advisement Day here, it’s not only important to think about the classes you have to take for your major, but also the ones that you want to take. You are literally paying to be here; don’t only focus on every major requirement, but also electives that interest you.
College is a time for you to explore and choose to take classes that interest you, so what happens when there are no longer interesting classes left? That’s up to you. And I wish you luck in this time fellow students and staff alike as finals rapidly approach. The good news is we are safe for at least the next few months; the actions that the school takes now can be the saving grace that we need to keep the HOME we have still standing.
