Members of university history departments from across North Carolina are responding through letter campaigns to the recent announcement that Elizabeth City State University administrators are considering ending seven major programs. Some N.C. State faculty members are joining this response.
ECSU is considering removing history, physics, political science, and other majors from its curriculum. Members of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Duke University have already mailed letters of opposition. Jonathan Ocko, head of the History Department at N.C. State, said he is planning to send a letter from the department of history at N.C. State.
ECSU, a historically black university located in northeastern North Carolina, announced this month it will begin preliminary meetings to discuss several programs that the University of North Carolina System determined are “low productive.” ECSU Provost and Vice Chancellor Ali Khan recently said the cut is “still very much in the discussion stage.”
ECSU has experienced lower enrollment, a $5 million budget cut and dozens of layoffs in recent years, according to The News & Observer.
Ocko said the news was disappointing to hear.
“When you start eliminating the opportunity to focus on history, it can have a devastating effect,” Ocko said. “The humanities teach a broad array of analytical and critical skills.”
Ocko said these skills are just as necessary as technical skills taught in other disciplines.
“Humanities are about the human condition,” Ocko said. “Who we are, where we come from, how we think about things. Without these, students can be left with a very narrow, technical education with no awareness of how their actions affect groups of people.”
Ocko said he acknowledges ECSU had previously struggled to meet enrollment numbers, due to stricter admissions standards.
“However, cutting a core liberal art isn’t the answer,” Ocko said. “Offering a major teaches a disciplined way of thinking. Offering courses are only the introduction to that discipline.”
Ocko said ECSU’s history department currently prepares many of the K-12 social studies teachers for the 21-county region of northeastern North Carolina. If ECSU drops its area of study, Ocko said history department members are unsure of who will fill the void.
Ocko also said history majors at N.C. State have little need to worry. There are no plans to eliminate the history department at N.C. State, according to Ocko.