According to Marcus Weaver-Hightower, a professor of Educational Foundations and Research at UND, our legislators are not only cutting programs and their courses, but they have: Recently floated policy ideas about keeping almost everyone but the North Dakota-born out of our colleges and universities. Some ideas have included capping enrollment (some plans include not letting Minnesotans in), eliminating tuition waivers and cutting on-campus jobs. The thinking is apparently that “foreigners” come and sponge off ofour resources, then leave without contributing to North Dakota

Higher education is not a priority for Burgum. It is difficult to believe that he is genuinely interested in changing educational methods in K-12. Burgum also promises to “support our state’s most vulnerable people” while allowing UND's administration, deans and departments to gutthe liberal arts programwhile maintaining the robust vocational oriented training programs such as the medical school, nursing program, engineering, mining, aerospace and the UAS program

The state of North Dakota is dumbing-down education and robbing our youth of the critical aspects of a liberal education.

While an emphasis on technical programs may produce students who are work-force ready, these types of programs lack the "experience and wisdom" that studying history provides.65

eaches us what man has done, what man is, and what man can do.

Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, believes that these budget cuts, especially at the university level, are necessary in order to “position our state for long-term success with a leaner budget that is more adaptable to volatile swings in commodity prices.”

will have fewer responsibilities

By offering that understanding of the present, we as historians are able to help society prepare for possible futures

As an example we can look at the concerns among American leaders about the rising power and importance of China. When analyzing the reasons behind the growth of the People’s Republic of China in the late 20thand early 21stcenturies,and the basis of their foreign policy, a social scientist might look at a number of factors. Issues such as the growing military strength of the Chinese;an economic expansion that has spanned over thirty years;the impact of Deng Xioping (Dvng Syauping) on the modernization of the Chinese government after the death of Mao Zedong (Mau Dzvtong); Chinese concerns over the issue of Taiwan;or the effect of the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960’s on PRC China foreign policy, a split which prompted their strategy of realigning themselves with the United States in the 1970’s.55The historian would look at these issues, but would also illustrate that for PRC China much of their 20thcentury foreign policy came from a strategic consideration of China’s past interactions with Western nations in the 19thcentury. The unequal treaties between Qing (Ching) Imperial China and European powers such as the United Kingdom, France or Germanyleft a heavy influence on how China positions itself in world politics.56Historians would note that the old Western view of China, based out of the late 19thcentury, as being unwarlike, backwards, and poor was a mistaken basis by which to judge thepowerand longevity of China. They could point out past examples of Chinese military strength such as the massive military expansion of China under the Qing (Ching) Dynasty, culminating with the conquest of Xinjiang (Syinjyang), and theQing (Ching) Dynasty’sheavy emphasis on military prowess as a counter to the passive view taken from the 19thcentury.5

Historians missed the chance

By cutting funding for the Graduate History Program, UND deprives the state of North Dakota of people who are trained in analyzing the long-term perspective of events, such as past budget cuts, and can offer solutions that lead to a more sustainable future.

Universities now serve more as a production and vocational breeding ground for professional training that will lead the way (preferably via drones) into the future.

President Thomas Kane called for the elimination of low-enrolment classes, a reduction in equipment purchases, an increase in teaching loads, and voluntary staff reductions

f STEM is the acronym of the future it leaves out an important letter -H, which in this particular case stands for History, but can also represent the Humanities. The Humanities, or Geisteswissenschaften(the sciences of the mind!), are not included.