Students in East Asian Studies Protest End of Intensive Track

About 20 students yesterday met with Faculty members in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations to protest the termination of intensive Japanese and Chinese courses and the firing of Elizabeth P. Mao, lecturer on Chinese.

The Department has been forced to discontinue the intensive languages program because of the recent withdrawal of government funding. The program will be discontinued indefinitely, until there is additional funding.

Mao, who taught courses for the past seven years in both the intensive and the non-intensive program, was informed last Tuesday that her term as an annually appointed lecturer would end in September 1974.

University regulation limits the teaching terms of non-tenured Faculty members to a maximum of eight years.

Students, describing Mao as the "best and most devoted teacher in the Department," yesterday urged Faculty members to appoint Mao a permanent lecturer in the Department.

Edward W. Wagner, chairman of the Department, said yesterday that he could not give Mao a permanent position this year because of the funding shortage. The Department has given two lecturers permanent positions in the past few years.

"I am heartbroken and confused," Mao said yesterday.

She called the University's regulations "unfair" and said that she should be given more consideration after having taught here for seven years.

"As long as the non-intensive program is still here, and I am a good teacher, I don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to continue teaching," Mao said.

Department Faculty members, aware of Mao's tenuous position, tried early this year to find a permanent position for her here. Wagner said that they were unable to.

He said, however, that he will send a letter to the Administration asking if any considerations could be made in her case.

Harvey Brooks, acting dean of the Faculty, said yesterday that "the present administration is reluctant to appoint lecturers on a permanent basis at this time."

Former students of Mao described her yesterday as the "most concerned, the most pleasant and the most skilled teacher" they had ever had.

The 1971 Confidential Guide for Students (the Confi Guide) devoted a special section to Mao, describing her as the "pleasantest teacher on earth."

The students who attended yesterday's meeting said they will circulate a petition within the Department urging Mao's rehiring.