Saint Anselm College is one of my favorite places in the world. It’s where I have found the parts of the person I want to become and have started to put together the puzzle of my future self. And it’s in this spirit that I want to note some things that have begun to concern me.

One aspect of St. A’s that endeared itself very quickly to me was the Modern Languages Department. Now, admittedly there’s bias, since I’m a French major and I spend a fair amount of time in the department.

However, in speaking with other students, both those majoring and minoring and those only taking a language due to the requirements, the response is overwhelmingly positive.

I’ve heard countless times that the professors are some of the sweetest on campus, and that they create a supportive atmosphere to learn languages that can be quite challenging. So, when whispers about potential cuts to the program make their way to my ear, I am quite naturally disheartened.

Unfortunately, I have discovered that the Modern Languages Department is not the only department in this situation; many of the smaller majors are in a similar position, and the students in these majors are fearful that their major may be eradicated.Now I don’t want to sit here and bash the bigger programs. Programs like politics and nursing are thriving and rightly so. And I understand that program funding comes from student interest and the number of students enrolled in the program. But I can’t help but wonder, if the smaller majors were advertised even a fraction of the amount these bigger pro grams were, that there would bean increase in interest.

I’ve also noticed that instead of potentially supporting existing, smaller majors, the school has decided to pursue newer majors, to draw in new students. While the newer majors are lovely, there are students who are interested in existing majors and simply don’t know about them because of the lack of publicity. I know that, as much as I love it here, I likely would not be here if there hadn’t been a French program. And I stumbled across it by chance; there were never Instagram posts or news articles about big things the Modern Language Department was doing the way there are with other departments.

I highlight my experience as a way to draw attention to a concern of many students: is St. A’s going to lose the liberal arts? When I think of the core requirements, the tenant of our liberal arts program, I think of things of graduation requirements, but also of classes I really enjoyed – some of which surprised me. And when I hear that some of those may be cut, I’m sad on behalf of the future students who’ll never have that experience.

This, therefore, is my plea to the administration: please don’t cut these programs. Consider the cost that their removal will bring, and how their loss will affect future students.