From yazyk@halcyon.com Sat Jan 21 10:20:00 PST 1995 >From yazyk@halcyon.com Sat Jan 21 10:20:00 1995 Return-Path: Received: from mx5.u.washington.edu by lists.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW94.10/UW-NDC Revision: 2.32 ) id AA09325; Sat, 21 Jan 95 10:20:00 -0800 Received: from chinook.halcyon.com by mx5.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW94.10/UW-NDC Revision: 2.31 ) id AA14013; Sat, 21 Jan 95 10:19:56 -0800 Received: by halcyon.com id AA09498 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for slavic-uw@u.washington.edu); Sat, 21 Jan 1995 10:19:54 -0800 Date: Sat, 21 Jan 1995 10:19:53 -0800 (PST) From: Mark Gordon Foss X-Sender: yazyk@chinook.halcyon.com To: slavic-uw@u.washington.edu Cc: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Slavic In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Galya, Per your request, I am sending the text of my letter to the Times. The letter uses some of the same comments I already posted to this list. So, it may sound familiar. I feel it is important to emphasize to the public that the study of a language is not a stuffy, useless exercise. Americans are isolationist only to their own detriment. If the letter does make it into print, and I miss it, I would love being informed about it. Thanks. Mark Foss -----------------------Text follows------------------------------- Dear Seattle Times, The budget axe is about to fall. It is falling, not on a sacred, bloated cow but on a small well-cultivated grove of trees in the family orchard--the University of Washington's department of Slavic Languages and Literature. The changes taking place in Russia, and other Slavic countries, are so astounding that the Slavic department should be expanded, rather than cut. Therefore, it is incomprehensible why the University would consider eliminating Slavic studies. It seems to me that eliminating, or even sharply reducing, staff in this department is rather like cutting down The Cherry Orchard. What has been developed by years of cultivation, can't be easily replaced when the financial situation changes. Twelve years ago I was serving in the U. S. Army as a linguist. While studying Czech at the Defense Language Institute, I heard of the Slavic department at the University of Washington. Its reputation was well known. As a native of the Pacific Northwest, I was thrilled to learn that I could earn a degree in Slavic Languages in my own part of the country. After leaving the service, I came to Washington State specifically to study Russian at the University of Washington. After graduation in 1989, I used my training to translate for literally hundreds of Russian-speaking refugees in South King County. I'm now studying international trade. It is my goal to do business in Russia and Central/Eastern Europe. Without the dedicated, experienced staff of the Slavic department, my achievement, and that of hundreds of others, would not have been possible. The Slavic department is an invaluable asset to the Pacific Northwest, and especially Seattle, which relies so heavily on trade. There are Pacific Northwest companies doing business with the Russian Far East. In time, trade with Russia is bound to increase--not decrease. Currently, local students seeking proficiency in Russian can get it at the University of Washington. It would be rash and unwise to eliminate this resource. This department is a small, but fruitful, resource which should not be destroyed by the budget axe. Best Regards, Mark G. Foss --------------------------End Text----------------------------------- On Sat, 21 Jan 1995, Galya Diment wrote: > You can say 'blizorukost' and there are a couple of other words which > come to mind as well but they may be unprintable... Seattle Times has > pretty much ignored the whole UW mess for several weeks now; they have > not published any related letters for quite a while. They usually call > the author of a letter to confirm his/her identity so one usually knows > whether the letter is going to be published or not. Could you possibly > forward a copy to us at slavic-uw? I'll leave it to others to supply you > with e-mail addresses for legislators, I do not have them at hand. There > is a bill being introduced in Olympia which is nicknamed the "Slavic L & > L' bill and which was fashioned for us -- it will require that the > legislature oversees any attempt of the university to close down a > department which is unique to the state. So far the News Trib has noticed > this bill (the headline even said something like the Slavic L & L bill) and > the campus paper, the Daily, described it yesterday. > > Thanks for your concern, your splendid common sense, which apparently is > not given to UW top administrators, and your help! Galya Diment > > On Fri, 20 Jan 1995, Mark Gordon Foss wrote: > > > Greetings! > > > > I recently wrote to the Seattle Times regarding the proposed > > elimination of the Slavic Department. So far, I'm not sure whether they > > published it yet or not. I'm forwarding the address, email and fax number > > for others to use as well. > > > > The Times > > P.O. Box 70 > > Seattle, WA 98111 > > Fax: 382-6760 > > Email: opinion@seatimes.com > > > > I'm also looking for an online source of addresses, phone numbers > > & faxes for the Washington State legislature. Any suggestions? > > > > This whole situation seems quite frustrating to me. At a time > > when one would expect Slavic studies to be valued, the UW suggests this > > nonsense. (Can you say...BLIZORUKOST'?) > > > > Regards, > > Mark Foss > > yazyk@halcyon.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > .