THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9409010011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Staff writer Phil Walzer in his July 28 report on the budget crisis at Old Dominion University correctly stated that the degree program in Russian has been cut. But this does not mean that there is no more Russian at ODU.
Many students and people in the community have already jumped to this mistaken conclusion and have called me for clarification. Let me correct this impression publicly and loudly: Russian is still very much alive at ODU.
The Russian-degree program has been ``frozen,'' an administrative subtlety that is a far cry from eliminating a subject altogether. ODU students can still use Russian for their general language requirement, for the language components of degrees in internaitonal studies and business, or for their own academic, cultural and linguo-esthetic enrichment.
For the next few years, however, these courses cannot lead to a degree in Russian language and literature.
ODU is still the only institution in Hampton Roads with regular offerings in Russian, and for the past 20 years it has offered the area's only B.A. degree in the subject. (William and Mary is the next closest school with Russian classes, and after that are the University of Virginia, James Madison University and George Mason University.
These program cuts are based purely on numbers of students enrolled and not on the objective value of the subject. If more students got interested in the language of the largest country in the world, the full program could be ``thawed out'' with a minimum of fanfare.
ROBERT FRADKIN
Professor of Russian
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, Aug. 1, 1994 by CNB