[INDOLOGY] IMPORTANT on NEH and AIIS Funding & Budget!

[Clough, Bradley]

Dear Colleagues,

Please see below the important message from AIIS President Philip Lutgendorf.

Thanks,
Brad

Dr. Bradley S. Clough
Global Humanities and Religions
LA 101
The University of Montana
32 Campus Drive
Missoula, MT 59812

bradley.clough at mso.umt.edu<mailto:bradley.clough at mso.umt.edu>
Phone: 406-243-2837
Fax: 406-243-4076
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

(Kindly circulate this as widely as possible among South Asia scholars. I urge you to act!  Thanks, Philip)

From: Elise Auerbach <aiis at uchicago.edu<mailto:aiis at uchicago.edu>>
Date: Thursday, April 13, 2017 at 2:24 PM
Subject: Urgent request from AIIS President to all South Asia scholars

Dear colleagues and friends of AIIS,

As you probably know, the budget proposal before Congress, if approved in its present form, would have a severe impact on nearly all international education programs in our country. It would drastically reduce funding available for research fellowships, foreign language training, and most forms of educational exchange. Needless to say, it would be a terrible blow to AIIS and other American Overseas Research Centers (AORCs).

I am asking you to write, as soon as possible, to your congressional representatives and to request them to restore funding to NEH, the Department of State’s ECA Bureau, and the Department of Education. A draft letter is provided below.

The money involved is, in the perspective of the federal budget, trifling — less (needless to say) than a few presidential weekends in Florida. But with it, we scholars pursue a great range of activities that advance international understanding.

You are accustomed to receiving urgent appeals and to being told of "funding crises” — but this one is worse. The Director of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers calls it “the fight of our lives.” It is also the fight FOR our academic lives and for all that we do. Congress can easily restore these paltry funding lines. Please make your voice heard urging it to do so.

Gratefully,

Philip Lutgendorf
President, AIIS

Dear XXXX

    I am writing to express my strong support for two federal programs that fund the activities of the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS). Specifically, AIIS receives funding from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the Department of State and from the Department of Education's Title VI international programs. These very modest appropriations support a great range of activities that include language training for US scholars in critical languages of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and research programs that promote international understanding and goodwill. The Trump Administration has proposed to severely cut these programs in both Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018.  The survival of AIIS depends on the continuation of both programs.  Please do all you can to see that both continue to receive at least their present level of funding.

[OPTIONAL: a paragraph about the connection of the writer--like, "AIIS programs support the activities of students and faculty at [NAME OF YOUR INSTITUTION] and greatly enhance my own teaching and research. (etc.)]

    As you know, strategic ties with India are growing and international cooperation on issues of trade, terrorism and security are more important than ever. Now is not the time to cut off academic contacts. Instead the US should be facilitating more interactions between US scholars, students and educational institutions with their counterparts in the world’s largest democracy. These programs not only benefit our entire country but also the students, teachers, and colleges and universities in [NAME OF YOUR STATE].

     Again, I urge you in the strongest terms: please do all you can to see that the international exchange programs of the Departments of State and Education receive level funding in both FY 2017 and 2018.

     Thank you for your attention to this matter..

Sincerely,