Discusses the challenges and difficulties of Slavic languages, a field that is notoriously cyclical and is currently at the bottom of a cycle. The article chronicles the history of Slavic studies in relation to political developments since World War II, draws parallels between current trends in Slavic and other modern language programs, and sees…

Both declining second-language enrollments in colleges and universities and the rapid metamorphosis of higher education are linked to the end of the Cold War. The strong state as the protector of the university's relative independence has ended, and the business sector is the new standard for measuring performance. In this context, German…