<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Verdana;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'> With all due respect to Berkeley and its pretensions to being
a flagship campus, they have ignored Korean Studies for so long, it is hard for
me to work up any pity for the program now in peril. Other campuses and
centers are alive and well, and as far as I’m concerned Berkeley can sit on
there Korea money for another ten years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Mike R.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
koreanstudies-bounces@koreaweb.ws [mailto:koreanstudies-bounces@koreaweb.ws] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>Christine Hong<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, April 23, 2008 12:18 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [KS] korean studies at the university of california in jeopardy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>those
of you who subscribe to this listserv might already be aware of this, but
arnold schwarzenegger's education budget cuts are imperiling korean studies not
only at uc berkeley but also within the whole university of california
system. there currently is no major in korean in berkeley's east asian
languages and cultures (ealc) department; in order for a korean major to exist
and for graduate students to be able to pursue an advanced degree in korean at
berkeley, the department must have at least two professors who specialize in
korean, and berkeley's ealc department does not meet even this minimum
requirement. this is, without question, a travesty, given that berkeley
is the flagship campus in the university of california system--a school that
both touts itself as <i>the </i>major university in the pacific rim and can
boast of a near-majority of ethnic asian students, amongst whom there are many
koreans and korean americans. the problem at hand, however, is less that
berkeley's ealc program doesn't have a major program, but that, with the governor's
budget cuts, even the korean minor program is threatened. (i would add
that departments like french are far less impacted, despite the statistical
evidence pointing to declining undergraduate enrollment in french
classes.) at present, there is just one full-time faculty member in
korean--an assistant professor who is currently on leave. with the
exception of this professor, all of the ealc faculty in korean are language
instructors; it is important to recognize that their temporary hiring status
affords them no longterm job security. should they be fired as a result
of these budget cuts--as currently looks likely--ealc's korean program, which
sustains just a minor at present, will be utterly decimated, unlike the chinese
and japanese programs, which will be adversely affected but not disabled beyond
repair. <br>
<br>
professor alan tansman, the chair of berkeley's ealc, has written the following
public protest, which i pass along to you:<br>
<span style='color:black'><br>
</span></span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:black'>The Governor’s budget cuts have finally trickled down to the
university departments, and it seems that some were hit more than others. East
Asian Languages and Cultures received a 28% cut to what is called its TAS
budget, out of which 90% of our language teaching budget comes. This means that
for next year we will be cutting 40% of our Japanese, 58% of our Chinese, and
66% of our language classes. The most advanced levels will be cut. In Korean,
which right now does not have a Major program, even the Minor program is under
threat. Chinese already turns away over 100 a students every year; this
will get worse. We will likely have to “dumb down” the Chinese and Japanese
majors to accommodate the fewer classes we can offer. Also, we will likely have
to exclude from the classes all students not in the College of Letters and Sciences
(Engineering, humanities graduate students, law, etc.), and perhaps all
non-majors and non-minors. The cut is particularly dire because every student
cut from the program is cut not just from one class but from all those that
follow in the language sequence. Of course these cuts mean firing qualified
teachers, who are difficult to find. Once hurt like this, the program will be
hard to rebuild. The level of cuts in other departments, and other language
programs, is not clear, but east Asian Languages seems to have been hit far
harder.</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:blue'><br>
<br>
</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>i'm a
postdoc here at berkeley in the english department--my name's christine
hong--and i'm hoping to bring attention to and mobilization on this
issue. please feel free to contact me at cjhong@berkeley.edu with
suggestions, advice, feedback. many thanks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>