In recent weeks I’ve received messages from many members of the campus community who expressed their concern about planned cutbacks in language instruction at Berkeley next year. Uncertainty about the  state budget situation had meant that deans here had to be quite conservative in making their initial budget allocations; in the Arts and Humanities Division departments had to plan for cutbacks in many areas, including language instruction.  

As the Berkeley campus has moved forward in its overall budget planning, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer has consistently given a high priority to educational needs. In developing the details of the campus budget since the state released its May budget projections, his office has consulted closely with me to analyze the funding that Arts and Humanities needs in order to address the core educational needs of Berkeley students.  

I am delighted to announce a positive outcome to this process of consultation. EVCP Breslauer’s allocation of funding to Arts and Humanities will be larger than anticipated, which means that we can now schedule many courses that we had feared we would need to cut.   

I am very proud of Berkeley’s foreign language programs, which provide our students with tools they need in majors ranging from history to business and from political science to public health.  More broadly, I regard language instruction as central to Berkeley’s mission of preparing students for informed and humane participation in a global world.  I am thus especially pleased that we are now able to schedule more language classes for next year; for example, funding for East Asian languages, where student needs are especially acute, will equal the funding provided for this past year’s classes.

I am deeply grateful to all the students, faculty, alumni, and other friends of Berkeley who have asked, “How can we help?”  I think the answer has two parts.  We must communicate to our state legislators how important we think higher education is, and we must support and strengthen the public-private partnership that helps Berkeley sustain its excellence.

Janet Broughton
Dean, Arts & Humanities