On Wednesday, Oct. 25, Miami University students gathered in front of Armstrong Student Center to protest the possible removal of 18 humanities majors. Students held signs with messages of their dissatisfaction with the situation and waved various flags to show their support.
One of the main goals of the protest was to raise awareness about efforts to increase enrollment in the effected majors. Mónnica Gay, a junior social work and urban and regional planning major who is also the president of the Latiné Student Alliance, talked about how they want to make sure students have their voices heard.
“I really want students to enroll in the majors, build awareness and realize that a lot of majors are getting cut and the only way to stop it is if we have a lot of enrollment,” Gay said.
Students create signs to show their dissatisfaction with the situation.
Financial problems have been cited as one of the main reasons Miami is looking at cutting these low-enrolled majors. Santiago Rivera-Brogan, a junior psychology and art therapy major, thinks the university uses funds in the wrong places and focuses those funds too much on bigger establishments like the Farmer School of Business.
“The university is not putting their funding into the things that need to be put into,” Rivera-Brogan said. “To me, it looks like they are focusing on the things that are already big.”
The proposed plan, which must be decided on by Dec. 1, would result in an overhaul of 18 majors, ranging from German to critical race and ethnic studies. Dylan Haplin, a senior individualized studies major with a focus on labor organizing, thinks that getting rid of these majors would challenge Miami’s reputation in fostering the liberal arts.
“It's also moving Miami as a school away from those more inclusive and progressive majors,” Haplin said.
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