At a Nov. 3 faculty meeting, faculty voted unanimously to declare the Program in Linguistics an independent academic unit. The change moves the program out of the Council of the Humanities, and into the Social Sciences Academic Division.
With the move, the program gains the autonomy to hire new faculty and now has an independent financial chartstring. Although the program is not yet an official department, current Linguistics faculty and independent majors celebrated the step forward.
“This is an extremely exciting moment for the Program in Linguistics, one we have been working towards for many years!” wrote Associate Professor Laura Kalin in a statement to The Daily Princetonian. Kalin also serves as the associate director of the Program in Linguistics.
“Really the only change was we would have to change the logo on our merch: we can’t use the humanities logo anymore,” said Linguistics concentrator Ellie Noland ’27.
Kalin, along with then-director Adam Elga, proposed this change back in Nov. 2023 in a memo to the Academic Planning Group. Kalin hopes to establish an official major in linguistics next, as those intending to major in linguistics are currently required to complete an independent major application.
“We are thrilled to have the support of university leadership and the university community for our independence as an academic unit in the social sciences, a move which aligns with our current research methodologies and course offerings as well as our planned future path for growth,” Kalin wrote.
Jordan Chi ’28, a prospective math major who considered a linguistics concentration, told the ‘Prince,’ “It makes sense [that] they’re shying away from the humanities label.”
“Linguistics is very broad and interdisciplinary,” he added. “I think a lot of what linguists are doing is very computational in nature.”
For students who have declared the independent concentration in Linguistics, the shift is welcome, but not significant.
“I hadn’t heard anything about the change. But since I only have a year and a half left, I don’t think it will affect me much,” Cueyoung Lee ’27 said.
Still, Kalin stressed its positive influence on the program as a whole. “The move also coincides with our welcoming a new faculty member this spring,” she added.
Although linguistics exists as an established department at peer institutions like Harvard and Yale, Princeton remains without one. On this issue, Lee emphasized, “[F]unding is crucial for the Linguistics Program to take the steps it needs to become a full department.”
Haeon Lee is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Brooklyn, N.Y. and can be reached at hl1389[at]princeton.edu.
Isaac Bernstein is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Pittsburgh, Penn., and typically covers academic department happenings, faculty and graduate student research, and alumni news. He can be reached at ib4473[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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