An unfortunate cut

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Meredith College reviews majors

Students at Meredith College, a private women's college in West Raleigh named after a Baptist missionary, are apparently not playing to stereotype.

Religion and women's studies are among the under-enrolled academic majors that Meredith officials have singled out for reform or possible elimination.

Meredith began a review of how its faculty is distributed last spring. This summer, a planning committee determined that 11 undergraduate majors "are seriously under-enrolled and may not be viable in their current forms."

Adieu to French?

As a French major at Meredith College, I am appalled to see that the French major may be heading to the guillotine. Spanish is an important language, but it isn't necessarily the most important second language.

More than 40 percent of English vocabulary comes from French. It is an official language in most global organizations, as well as in more than 40 countries, and a native language on five continents.

As a recent study-abroad participant, I understand one motto on which Meredith College prides itself is helping students to travel the world and to become global citizens with a better understanding of themselves and others.

Cuts bring distress to Meredith campus

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CORRECTION

A story on Saturday's front page incorrectly identified a graduate degree earned by Meredith College President Maureen Hartford. She received a master's degree in college teaching, with a French discipline, from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Meredith, persevering

Meredith College, a cornerstone of higher education for women, is not alone in having to face some tough choices in tough times. The college, founded in 1891 and a prominent and steady presence on Raleigh's Hillsborough Street, has had a habit of educating many generations of women in the same family, and loyalties to the school are fierce.

So are the inclinations of students to protect the institution's broad academic offerings, which is why a a stir has come up over decisions to cut some majors in response to the need to reduce spending at the Southeast's largest (about 2,000 students) private women's college. One of the majors that's been discontinued is one in French, and women's studies and public history majors have gone the same way.

Administrators, however, seem to have acted in a way to affect as few students as possible, and doubtless cooperative efforts can be worked out with other area colleges and universities, both public and private, to help students get courses they need or want if they

At Meredith College, fewer "to-go" cups and other green measures

Students at Meredith College should probably not get too used to their "to-go" cups. The college wants to wean students off of them.

The measure is one of many included within Meredith's new "Greenprint Sustainability Plan," a recently-adopted map to a more environmentally-friendly campus.