What was just a menacing rumor for more than a year now has become reality at UC Santa Cruz: The Community Studies major has been axed. The university’s Academic Senate Committee on Educational Policy announced their decision to “suspend the major” on Wednesday, April 7, thereby “restricting new admission to the major for at least two years,” according to an open letter released by the office of the Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor. Community studies is a popular and one-of-a-kind program that allows students to zero in on a field of community organizing or action, and requires all students to complete a six month field study. The decision to cut the program (although prospective students and students currently in the major will be able to continue) came as a result of a multi-million dollar target budget reduction UCSC was tasked with slashing by the UC. Outraged students and faculty, led by the Coalition to Save Community Studies, have already organized around the news. They will be gathering at UCSC’s Quarry Plaza at noon before marching across the campus in protest.
.UCSC Community Studies Major ‘Suspended’
