After four months of budgetary debates, the FAU Women’s Studies Center and master’s program is set to continue for the next two years.

As part of the proposal to cut $22 million from the university-wide budget, College of Arts and Letters Dean Manjunath Pendakur suggested in February that FAU suspend the women’s studies master’s degree and that the certificate be absorbed by the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies. Pendakur proposed that it could save FAU about $60,000.

After presenting their proposal to save the department, the Women’s Studies Center made an agreement with FAU Provost John Prichett on April 29 to keep the program for the next two years.
“I am very excited that it’s continuing and relieved because it seemed very tenuous up to now,” Kathryn Smith, president of the Women’s Graduate Student Association, said after hearing the news. “The provost decided that our proposal of how to increase enrollment and raise funds was enough to keep the program running.”