ASEEES Letter to UNC Chapel Hill

Dear Chancellor Roberts and Provost Dean: 

On behalf of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the leading scholarly society in this field with over 3700 members, we write to express our strong opposition to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s shortsighted plans to close its six Global Area Studies Centers, including the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies (CSEEES).  

UNC’s area studies programs represent an essential contribution to the cultivation of global expertise on foreign countries and regions of the world. These centers play a critical role in uniting language instruction with disciplinary degree programs ranging from history and literature to political science and more, fostering the global competence of UNC graduates, which is vital to their future successes and enhances their professional contributions. 

The need for expertise on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia remains a paramount strategic priority for the United States, and UNC has long been a leading producer of experts in Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies and a crucial hub for the study of this region. CSEEES has substantively contributed to UNC’s standing as an institution with global impact through its undergraduate and graduate education, campus events and programming, and public engagement. Students who have benefitted from the interdisciplinary offerings at CSEEES, in conjunction with other departments and programs on campus, have gone on to wide-ranging careers in academia, government, business, K-12 education, and beyond, evincing the profound value of area studies programs.  

Terminating these area studies programs would result in an irrefutable loss of prestige for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a substantial reduction in the opportunities for North Carolina residents to study the world, and a profound setback to the American university system’s ability to cultivate necessary expertise on world regions and issues of global urgency.  

We urge you to reconsider the plan to close the area studies centers at UNC. 

Sincerely, 

Oxana Shevel 
President, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 
Associate Professor of Political Science, Tufts University  

David Cooper 
Vice President, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 
Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

Adrienne Edgar 
Immediate Past President, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 
Professor of History, UC Santa Barbara 

Stephen B. Riegg 
Board Member, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 
Associate Professor of History, Texas A&M University, and UNC Alumnus  

Christine Worobec 
Board Member, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 
Professor Emerita of History, Northern Illinois University 

Eugene Avrutin 
Board Member, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 
Professor of History, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

Lynda Park 
Executive Director, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 

Leah Valtin-Erwin 
Grants and Programs Manager, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and UNC Alumna