Why universities -- and the rest of us -- need religion studies

[Jim__]

3. I agree about religion studies being important.

That said, here is a list from Burlington Free Press of the Majors and the 3 yr average number of student for each major.

Programs proposed for elimination are listed below and include the three-year average for students in the program followed by the three-year average of number of degrees awarded.

Majors:

Classical Civilization - 19.7 students, 4 degrees
Geology (BA) - 7.7 students, 0.7 degrees
Geology (BS) - 19.7 students, 6.3 degrees
German - 13.3 students, 1.3 degrees
Greek - 7 students, 0.3 degrees
Asian Studies - 9.7 students, 2 degrees
European Studies - 3 students, 0.7 degrees
Latin American & Caribbean Studies - 2 students, 0.7 degrees
Russia/Eastern European Studies - 0.3 students, 0 degrees
Italian Studies - 5 students, 0.3 degrees
Latin - 9.7 students, 2 degrees
Religion - 25.3 students, 4.3 degrees

The number of students for each major does seem low and I'm not sure how universities finance these programs. I would hope that there could be some sort of regional consolidation so that the majors remain available within the region, but not necessarily available in each university in the region.