Angry high schoolers send letters

Students at Saint Andrew's Episcopal High School in Jackson, Miss., have decided to voice their opinions about the recent budget cuts affecting the Latin program at Southern Miss.

About 25 Latin students at St. Andrew's have written letters to the provost concerning the program's recommended termination.  

Patsy Ricks, who has taught Latin for over 40 years, came up with the idea of involving her students.  "One day I mentioned to them that Southern Miss was planning to cut the classics department, and they all felt really enthusiastic about writing letters to share their thoughts," Ricks said.

"The bottom line is that they have really enjoyed their studies in Latin at St. Andrew's and wouldn't want to go to a university that did not offer them the chance to continue," Ricks said.  

Laura Landrum, a senior at St. Andrew's, is one of the students who wrote letters to the school.

"Latin is not just a language," Landrum said. "Taking a Latin class is like taking literature, history, language, riddle and a morality course all in one."

Landrum said she is upset about the Latin program being cut at USM. "This choice speaks to extremely ignorant judgement on the part of Southern's leaders," Landrum said. "I can unfortunately say that I do not believe I will be applying to USM because it seems the leaders do not care to consider the students when making decisions about their futures."

Not only is Landrum's opinion of Southern Miss being affected, but she said the opinions of her peers have been affected as well.

"I know for a fact that their application decisions are greatly affected by the cuts," Landrum said. "I believe USM is making a grave mistake in cutting Latin not only because of the loss of those in the major but because of the image it portrays for the school."


Leah Fonder-Solano, chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at USM, said that St. Andrew's students are not the only ones sending letters regarding the Latin program.

"We've received many letters, not just from students, but from concerned members of the community, alumni, doctors and lawyers that have all studied Latin, all telling us how beneficial and helpful it was to them," Fonder-Solano said.  "Many people told us their Latin courses got them into graduate school, how helpful it is in their careers and its importance to education in general."

Other schools and corporations are showing their encouragement for the Latin Department as well.

"We've also heard from other universities and law schools, all showing us their support and giving reasons for why Latin is so important to education," Fonder-Solano said.

Fonder-Solano is anticipating that these letters will do good for the Latin program and show just how important it is. "These letters keep pouring in, and we just hope they make a difference."