UT-Austin’s threatened budget cuts are starting to take hold with the announcement it will no longer offer Vietnamese language classes to students. Department of Asian Studies Chair Joel Brereton described the decision as “grisly.” The department faces a 30% cut in the budget for its lecturers, adjunct professors, and teaching assistants. Even with savings created by increasing class sizes, the department will not renew the contract of the Vietnamese-language lecturer and will reduce the number of graduate TA positions by about a quarter. Those moves will save the department roughly $50,000 a year and the university administration an extra $10,000 – but at the cost of no longer teaching the state’s third most commonly spoken language. Brereton warned: “I know there will be further reductions, but I just hope they’re not in this budget cycle. I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel now, and I don’t know what else I can do.”

This article appears in April 16 • 2010.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.