When I toured the University of Montana in 2017, I didn't just find a college. I found a home. But what made it a home wasn't the Oval, or the UC, or any of the campus. In fact, I felt a bit out of place and nervous in this new world.

However, all of that changed when I first met the Japanese department.

At UM, the Japanese department is made up of three men, and I was able to meet the two that were there that particular day. For the first time in my college tour, they made me feel at home. I genuinely felt like a person, not a number on an admissions roster. The Japanese language was a huge passion of mine, and they helped stoke it, so by the end of my time there, my thought process of "I might minor in Japanese, I don't know" had utterly changed. Leaving that meeting, I knew for a fact that I was at least a Japanese minor, if not a double major since I knew I'd love the classes in that department and they showed me a wonderful path to language mastery and cultural awareness.

After that, I met with the Psychology department, and it was much less personal. However, the program was good, so I felt thrilled to say that I was officially a UM student. I remember meeting my mother after the appointments and excitedly telling her how I felt like this was perfect, how, for once in my life, I just knew that this was where I was meant to be.

See also: 5 Struggles Everyone Studying Japanese Can Understand

My impression wasn't at all halted by my experiences with the Japanese department. I had a class taught by the professor I didn't have the opportunity to meet, and I can now say that he is one of the members of the faculty that I'm closest to at the University. He genuinely loves the subject and cares about me and the rest of his students. I'm now a Japanese major, so much more confident in my Japanese language abilities, and the Japanese history class I've taken has improved my academic reading and writing, as well as my understanding of a diverse culture.

Then, I read President Bodnar's Strategy for Distinction.

This strategy, though just a draft, proposed a massive gutting of two departments--the English department and the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literature. The MCLL department is where Japanese falls...and the department has certainly been feeling the cuts. A proposed 7.5 faculty members in the department will be laid off, the Japanese major is being cut, among others, and that's only the beginning. Now, I should theoretically be able to complete my major--everyone already in the program can complete their major--but this doesn't even scratch the surface of the host of issues with this proposal.

For one, the Japanese major, along with others, is being pushed into a group called "Asian Studies." I have many questions about this. For one, does this mean that as a Japanese major, I will also be learning about India, Pakistan, and Russia? Yes, as a Japanese major, I have to take Asia focused electives, but generally, majors choose to take electives in East Asian courses, since they're at least similar. To lump Asia into one group for Asian Studies as a replacement for more specific majors does each of these individual areas an immense disservice.

For another, cuts in MCLL will definitely be some of the most adverse cuts that can be made.

If one person is cut from a department of three people, it's a much bigger blow than if one person left the psychology department, which is rife with faculty. I'm not advocating cuts in that department--I love psychology and believe it is vital--but cuts to any language department will effectively cripple it.

However, most of my objections lie in the fact that the English and MCLL departments are being gutted. The University of Montana is a place where, first and foremost, we can obtain a liberal arts education. How can we obtain a liberal arts education without a fundamental understanding of language, in all its forms? We need English; writing and reading critically is the bread and butter of any student. And the importance of cultural awareness cannot be understated. Learning languages is incredibly beneficial in so many respects, and learning about literature and history from other parts of the world is doubly so. It helps us shake the Eurocentric, or even USA-centric, view of this world, and see ourselves as a global community.

To cut these programs is to cut liberal arts education itself.

See also: My Recommendations In Response To President Seth Bodnar's 'Strategy For Distinction'

I did not come to UM for a business program. I did not come for journalism. I did not come for the athletics. I came for the Japanese program, a program that finally made me feel like I had a home. Now I'm fearing for my home. Though I can theoretically finish my major, I certainly can't if the classes I need are cut. The professors I'm closest with fear for their jobs. We are in a place where programs with heart, importance, and valuable classes, are cut in favor of programs that do not supplement the liberal arts education that the University is so well known for.

In a liberal arts school, I am now left to fear for my liberal arts education.