Nicole Belolan, representative of the College of the Liberal Arts, wanted to show that the American studies major is important to students at Penn State.
Belolan, an American studies and French major, was one of the sponsors of a resolution to save the American studies major, which was unanimously passed at the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Academic Assembly meeting last night.
"It is to show that American studies students care that their major will be here after they leave," she said.
As a result of the resolution, a letter will be sent in a week to Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and International Programs Jan Jacobs, College of the Liberal Arts Dean Susan Welch, Associate Dean of Resident Instruction Jack Selzer, English department head Robert Caserio, American studies major director Robert Lougy and Undergraduate Education Committee Chair Arthur Miller.
"We're a university that boasts of the many options it can offer to students," said College of the Liberal Arts Sen. Ashley Harris, who also sponsored the resolution. "By taking away this major we're losing those options and we're losing our appeal and our value as a large university."
College of Arts and Architecture Sen. Kelly Gregg said she has taken a lot of American studies courses and is a few credits short of completing a minor.
"From my experience, it shows diversity well and it breaks down the traditional white-male history perspective," she said.
Belolan said the major satisfies the U.S. culture requirement, which replaces the three-credit Intercultural and International Competence requirement. "I think maintaining the major can only help improve and maintain the quality of the U.S. culture requirement," she said.
Although there is a small number of students in the major, it is not the smallest program, she said. It also serves as a reciprocal program for other majors, such as women's studies and African and African-American studies. "It lets them know that students support [the major] and they care about their education and about a major that has scholarly merit," Belolan said.
