Save the Bachelor Celtic in Utrecht: example

Need some inspiration or guidance when preparing your letter in support of the Bachelor programme Celtic Languages and Culture at Utrecht University? You are free to use the following example to help you on your way.

Professor dr Henk Kummeling
Rector Magnificus
Utrecht University

Dear Professor Kummeling,

I write in support of the BA programme of Celtic Languages and Culture, to urge you to reconsider its closure. Celtic Studies in Utrecht stands in a long tradition and marked its centenary only last year, when both the general public and the international community came together in Utrecht to celebrate the uniqueness and beauty of the subject.

Its staff and alumni have a high reputation in Celtic Studies internationally, through both teaching and research. The research contributions of the programme staff and its graduates make the programme Celtic Languages and Culture at Utrecht University an integral and inalienable node in a much wider network. The programme also plays an important role in giving a voice to minority language communities that are currently under threat and that are an intrinsic part of our European linguistic diversity.

With the closure of the BA programme, which is unique in the Netherlands and rare worldwide, staff expertise in curating an important part of West European heritage loses the only form of protection that the Dutch higher educational system offers, thus seriously threatening its existence. I appeal to you to show your responsibility to cherish this expertise, particularly in times of financial stress, because it is in those times that this ‘small’ subject depends on you.

I strongly urge you to revise said plans and to preserve this important programme, and stand by the words you spoke at the opening of the International Congress of Celtic Studies in Utrecht last summer, where you referred to Celtic Studies as the jewel in the Crown of Utrecht University and as a cherished, important, and above all, relevant discipline in this day and age.

Yours sincerely,

XXX