The budget cuts revealed on Monday did not fall on a particularly surprising victim — when the coffers run dry at any level of education, the performing arts are often seen by higher-ups as relatively expendable departments, not central to the educational process, and so on. It would be encouraging that Arts and Sciences Dean Peter Lepage, for one, views the process as a “converstion,” which is at least preferable to a lecture in situations such as these. But it must be noted that the cuts outlined for the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance — somewhere between $1-2 million of the department’s $4.6 million budget, depending on the outcome of that “conversation” — would take up a significant chunk of the total $6 million in cuts required of the College of Arts and Sciences.

That seems like a heavy-handed conversation starter.

In the administration’s eyes and budget sheets, the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance might be a peripheral unit to the University’s core. With a downsized performing arts department, Cornell will likely continue to exist largely as it had before. The students in the department will suffer a sharp loss in the quality of their experience, but they are few in number, and can find another direction (or so the thinking goes). But the department, while not necessarily central to the University's rankings or mission, has undoubtedly had a crucial positive effect on many individuals’ Cornell experience.

It is true that the department has relatively few full-time undergraduate majors — combined, the visual and performing arts awarded 90 bachelor's degrees last year, just three percent of Cornell’s total. And while these students will bear the brunt of the blow, they will not be the only one’s affected. The performing arts, more so than other departments, touch so many lives aside from the students who declare it their major. The Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts hosts numerous theatre, film and dance events throughout the course of the year that provide memorable experiences for audiences made up of students, faculty, staff and Ithaca community members. From the engineer who takes a few stress-relieving dance classes to the philosophy major who enjoys the hands-on experience of constructing a set, the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance has positively affected innumerable individuals in countless ways. If the department must make cuts as part of a college-wide effort to increase savings, the conversation should include these individuals as well.