The University of California was facing a multi-billion dollar budget crunch in 2011, leading UCLA officials to consider numerous proposals to preserve the quality of the school’s education in the face of severe budget cuts. The UCLA Academic Senate floated one such proposal: consolidate six language departments into a single European languages and cultures department.

However, the new department never materialized, and the departments of French and Francophone studies, Spanish and Portuguese, Slavic languages and literatures, Scandinavian, Italian and Germanic languages remain separate to this day.

How did the humanities division manage to address the budget shortfall amid stagnant enrollment numbers? Daily Bruin Radio’s intern class examines how department funding works and how the language departments have worked to close the budget shortfall.