The Funeral

To humans it may concern:

Budget cuts are two words simultaneously uniting and splitting Wisconsin as of late. Students became united overnight.

We students awoke inside this same boat to find it sinking with little hope of rescue  Protests in Madison, budget forums across campuses and Facebook posts reeling with emotion and our rally of 150 of my peers from my fellow peers kept our fate in the forefront of my min, but it was not until I arrived at my beloved anthropology classes one week that hearsay was blindsided with reality.

Within the same week, both of my Anthropology professors began their lecture by informing us that they were cut from our university and along with them, the program. The room fell silent with this news.

Suddenly, Facebook rants became tangible as right in front of us stood the face of these cuts: Tori Jennings, Inne Choi, and the anthropology program. The class’s atmosphere changed as all of us had to come to terms that from this day forward, each class would be a funeral.

We witnessed and mourned amazing professors falling victim to the politics of society and power. Signs of grief have even been expressed after some time; I experienced shock and denial when first learning anthropology’s fate.

Pain was the next emotion I experienced when empathizing with the demise of my professors’ life passion. Anger and bargaining followed when I desperately sought outlets for actively resisting these cuts, while still attempting to grasp the reasoning behind it.

The existence of anthropology will cease come the end of next year. The opportunity for Tori and Inne to teach and inspire future Pointers and fundamentally change the way they think will end.

Anthropology is not simply a program of two professors, one minor, and a few dedicated students.

Anthropology is being brought to tears by the end of a lecture after learning of the plight of indigenous groups a world away as they fight massive mining companies.

Anthropology is discovering that white privilege does exist and governs our entire system on a daily basis. Anthropology is realizing that race was and never will be biological but rather a social construction that mankind has created.

Anthropology is asking ourselves why we have the ability to speak when no other organism possesses such a characteristic.

Antrhopology is questioning the unquestioned and accepting that oftentimes no answer exists.

Anthropology is realizing the grey area between black and white is often the most enthralling place to be.

Anthropology is clinging to every thought-provoking concept your professor presents to you, providing you with a new lens from which to see the world.

Anthropology is identifying that evolution is not only perpetually occurring but that our genetic diversity is what allows us to survive. Anthropology is the quest for understanding of both ourselves and those who came before us.

Anthropology is the foundation of being human.

If UWSP’s mission is to “stimulate intellectual growth, provide a liberal education and prepare students for a diverse and sustainable world,” then what hope is there to cling to after the death of anthropology?

 

Cailie Kafura

Anthropology Minor

UWSP Junior