Congress Cancels American Overseas Research Centers (AORC) Program
Dear Friends of the School: In 2007 the American School of Classical Studies at Athens won a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education in their American Overseas Research Centers competition. This grant, which ends during the 2010–11 academic year, provided much needed funds for general operations at the School, including the salaries of key staff, library acquisitions, and lectures. The AORC competition was announced again in January 2011, and in May we submitted another application for multi-year funding. This week, we were notified that due to the recent budget cuts in Washington, D.C., the entire AORC program has been cancelled.  The AORC competition is part of the Title VI programs at the Department of Education. The total budget for Title VI was just over $125 million in FY 2011, and for FY 2012 their budget was cut by $50 million. In response to cuts of this magnitude, the Department decided to cancel entirely all the competitions that were pending rather than cut back on programs that had already been through a competition. We argued that it made more sense to fund all their programs at a lower level rather than to eliminate funding for any program altogether. In this way everyone would have a stake in getting the numbers increased by Congress next year. In response to the decision of the Department of Education to cut the AORC program, we are working with the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) to engage our Congressional allies and work aggressively on our behalf to reinstitute the program. Please join us in making our voice heard in Congress! You can help by signing the petition below. It is vital to the health of the School to maintain our funding levels from all sources during this time of economic contraction. We need to tell Congress how important it is for the US to continue its overseas programs. Thank you.   Sign the petition.