Editor’s Note: The faculty member quoted in the article is speaking independently and not on behalf of the University or the Department of American Studies.

With the help of his parents, former American Studies professor and chair William Stott donated $25,000 to establish the Stott Family Scholarship in the 1990s. The scholarship, which has since doubled in value, has supported the professional endeavours of several American Studies graduate students every year. 

“Now, seeing how the UT administration treats long-established doctoral programs and departments,” Stott wrote in an email to David Sosa, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts, on March 2, “I won’t give a cent.” 

UT President Jim Davis announced on Feb. 12 the University would consolidate the Department of American Studies, along with three other departments, into the new Department of Social and Cultural Analysis. Davis wrote the consolidation aims to “evaluate the fairness and effectiveness” of the varying student-to-faculty ratios across COLA. However, faculty have raised concerns that the change would hurt the academic experience and diminish resources for these programs. 

Stott, who is 85 years old, wrote in his email to Sosa that he intended to quadruple his donation to the department after his death. Although he said the amount each student receives from the scholarship is “trivial” — about $500 — the scholarship description states that students use it to help fund travels to professional meetings where they can present academic papers. 

Lauren Gutterman, chair of the Department of American Studies, said since the department has less funding available, any loss of support has a “detrimental” effect.

Now, Stott said he doesn’t know what he plans to do with the money. However, he said he would continue to support the scholarship if the new American Studies unit has some level of autonomy within the new department. 

“If they want to put American Studies in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, that’s great with me,” Stott said. “Just allow American Studies either to be a department within it or a program within it that has the right to appoint faculty.” 

Gutterman said she has not received a timeline of when the consolidation will be implemented or how it will impact the American studies degree programs.

The University did not respond to multiple requests for a comment.

American Studies junior Mario Perez said when he first got into UT, he was a government major with an American Studies minor. He later decided to switch his major to American Studies after falling in love with the curriculum’s angle, Perez said. 

“I saw the histories being taught here,” Perez said. “It’s very important to understand these cultures and these histories of communities that have been ignored across time, and usually in our Texas curriculum.”

Gutterman said others who have donated to the merging departments may consider pulling their funding if the department’s future is uncertain. 

“For many people who are emotionally and personally invested in these fields of study and these academic units, to see the University compromise their future is really disheartening,” Gutterman said. “I’m sure (this) causes many donors to question the kind of decisions that our leaders are making.”

In his email, Stott wrote he understands why Sosa complied with the University’s “wish to throttle American Studies.”

“Were I in your shoes and told to promulgate President Trump’s vision and thus degrade UT’s standing as a top-tier public university,” Stott wrote, “I would say ‘No!’ … and resign my deanship.”