University of Montana Irish Studies Program

🚨‼️SAVE IRISH STUDIES AT THE University of Montana‼️🚨

We have not received any further update since we launched our campaign, and the University of Montana Registrar’s Office is currently not listing Irish language courses for enrolment, despite no final decision having been made!!!

Please continue to support our campaign by visiting our CALL FOR ACTION PAGE and sharing your views. Keep sending messages, continue to contact the Board of Regents and spread the word.
Our website serves as the central hub for all updates and information, stay informed, spread the word, and take action. We appreciate all your support at this time🇮🇪

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Action Page — Friends of Irish Studies in the West ‼️🚨A moratorium has been placed on the Irish Studies Program at the University of Montana, placing the program in immediate jeopardy. Without swift action, its future is at serious risk.

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Upcoming event🤩

Edel Semple, a widely celebrated Shakespeare scholar will be presenting from her latest work.

Here's the title of her presentation, and a brief description:
Shakespeare's badass mothers on film: Prospera and Volumnia
My paper examines the portrayal and significance of two aging 'badass' mothers in The Tempest (dir. Julie Taymor 2010) and Coriolanus (dir. Ralph Fiennes 2012). I'll argue that, drawing on popular film genres and networks of imagery (e.g. of the military, of royalty), these films appropriate the mothers - Prospera and Volumnia - to offer interventions in current debates on women in power, working mothers, and female aging. As both women are played by a senior doyenne of stage and screen - Helen Mirren and Vanessa Redgrave - I'll discuss casting in relation to the films’ interrogations of contemporary perceptions of female aging.

Dr. Semple is Senior Lecturer in English at University College Cork and has published widely, including a number of recent books on Shakespeare on screen and on Shakespearean Biofiction (fictions and films about the Bard and his life)

❌🚨UPDATE - SAVE IRISH STUDIES AT UM🚨❌

The University of Montana is refusing to list Irish language courses for next semester, even though no final decision has been made and both the ASCRC and the Faculty Senate voted against terminating the Irish language program and placing Irish Studies into moratorium.

This is the most immediate issue. Students are being denied the ability to register for Irish language classes, the 3rd most-enrolled language on campus behind only French and Spanish. If students cannot enroll, the damage to the program begins now, long before the Board of Regents makes any formal decision.

The University’s ASCRC majority voted against the recommendation, and the Faculty Senate then voted by a wide majority in line with that recommendation. No University proposal that has failed to pass both ASCRC and the Faculty Senate has ever been escalated to the Board of Regents. Yet the Provost’s office is disregarding the University’s own shared-governance process and moving this recommendation to the state level anyway.

This is not a normal process, and it should concern everyone who cares about transparency, shared governance, and the future of Irish language and culture in Montana.

Please share this post, stay informed, and follow FISW for updates. More information on what you can do is on our website.

Website 👉 https://www.friendsofirishstudies.com/actionpage

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🚨SAVE IRISH STUDIES AT UM🚨

A huge thank you to everyone who engaged with our most recent post about saving University of Montana Irish Studies Program☘️

The poster, along with many other resources, is available on our website here:
https://www.friendsofirishstudies.com/actionpage
You can also download the post as a PDF directly from the site. If you’re able to, we encourage you to print copies and help spread the word in your community: whether that’s local notice boards, cafés, or other gathering spots, or continue sharing online☘️
Please continue to share your messages of support under this post, and visit our website to find more ways you can support the campaign. We appreciate your support. Go raibh míle maith agaibh!!💚🇮🇪

👉 https://www.friendsofirishstudies.com/actionpage

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🚨URGENT ACTION REQUIRED - SAVE IRISH STUDIES AT UM🚨

The University of Montana has recommended placing Irish Studies into a three-year moratorium and terminating the Irish language program effective at the end of this semester.

That distinction matters. A “moratorium” may sound temporary, but the Irish language itself is not being paused for review — it is being recommended for termination. Without the language, what remains is not the Irish program as Montana has known it, but a reduced set of literature and history courses.

This matters far beyond the University. The Irish language program is the foundation for a much larger network of cultural, educational, and international relationships tied to Montana. It supports exchange programs, Fulbright instructors, high school language courses, and community traditions that have grown around Irish music, dance, sport, and history here over the past two decades.

The University has justified this recommendation in part through minor-completion numbers, but current Irish language and course enrollment remains one of the strongest language enrollments on campus, surpassed only by French and Spanish. The latest external review contained only positive feedback and called for more investment from the University of Montana into the program.

We do not understand why the UM is so committed to cutting a flourishing program when the supported data does not justify it.

This is not how a transparent, taxpayer-funded public university should operate.

We are sharing this now because a final decision is expected in May, and the community deserves to know what is happening. This is only a Facebook post, so we cannot include everything here, but if you would like to read more about what is at stake, please visit our website: friendsofirishstudies.com

The website will serve as a hub for information and all the ways you can help us fight back.

All we have left is April to make a stand.

We will continue sharing updates and ways to help. For now, the most important thing is visibility. Please read, share, and stay informed.

Please also comment on this post if the Irish program has impacted you. We will compile those comments into a document to present to the Board of Regents.

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We’re only just getting around to posting now, but what an incredible night it was!✨

A huge GO RAIBH MAITH AGAT (THANK YOU) to all of our amazing sponsors, everyone who generously supported the silent and live auction items🎁, and our wonderful community for showing up and making the Friends of Irish Studies in the West Banquet & Auction at the Holiday Inn on March 14th such a success☘️ Thank you to our performers and everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes to make sure the event was a huge success: we couldn’t have done it without you!☘️

A special thank you as well to our Grand Marshal, and to our Irish Man and Irish Woman of the Year 🇮🇪🌟

We’ll be sharing important information about the University of Montana Irish Studies Program tomorrow, urgent support will be needed, so please stay tuned📢

Go raibh míle maith agaibh!🇮🇪 A huge thank you all for celebration St. Patrick’s Day with us!💚

☘️We are currently seeking donations for our upcoming Silent Auction!☘️

If you or your business would like to contribute an item, service, or gift certificate, we would be incredibly grateful for your support.

All donated items help make our event a success and directly support our cause. Donors will be recognized during the auction. We look forward to welcoming you to the St. Patrick’s Day Banquet very soon. More information to follow.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh | Thank you💚
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☘️An Irish Poetry Evening in Anaconda!☘️

Join us February 13 at 6:00 p.m. at the Ancient Order of Hibernians Hall (106 Cherry Street) for a lively evening of Irish poetry, storytelling, and community.

With Montana Poet Laureate Mark Gibbons, Copper Quill Award winner James Jay, Irish Fulbright Teaching Assistants Abigail Moriarty and Melissa Scully, Hearst Free Library Director Sam Walters, and Myles Maloney as MC, expect plenty of stories, laughs, and moments worth sharing📖

✨FREE event
🎟️Raffles & great prizes all night

Brought to you by the University of Montana Irish Studies Program and Montana Grizzlies Hurling.
Stay on after for more craic🤩

‼️Another exciting announcement coming tomorrow‼️

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Beannachtaí na Nollag oraibh go léir | Wishing you all a happy and peaceful Christmas💚