When the news was announced that West Virginia University was planning sweeping cuts to academic programs, including eliminating the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics (WLLL), the Linguistic Society of America moved to action in a variety of ways. We shared a special message and call to action with LSA members and stakeholder from the LSA officers and from the department. We sent a letter to West Virginia University President Gordon Gee with copies to the West Virginia University Board of Governors and Jim Justice, Governor of West Virginia. We also conferred with the Canadian Linguistic Association / Association canadienne de linguistique as they developed their own letter about this deeply concerning situation, and with a variety of other scholarly societies that wrote letters of their own. Below you will find each of these letters. If you would like to take action of your own in response to the elimination of WLLL at West Virginia University, please take special note of the final paragraph in the special message to LSA members and stakeholders.

Links to letters and articles

1. LSA letter to President Gee (August 22)

   LSA letter to President Gee (August 22)
2. A special message to LSA members and stakeholders (August 18)
3. A letter from the Canadian Linguistic Association / Association canadienne de linguistique (August 22)
4. MLA Executive Director Speaks Out against Dramatic Cuts to Humanities Programs at West Virginia University (August 15)
5. German Studies Association: Preserve World Languages at WVU
6. AATSEEL/ASEEES Joint letter to West Virginia University (August 15)

7. American Association for Applied Linguistics (August 22)

   American Association for Applied Linguistics (August 22)