The program wasn’t extended to Rota and Tinian, however, according to council board member Janet H. King
She said Kluge’s trip to Tinian had to be paid by “individual members.”
“It is disappointing and appalling to find that Dr. Kluge’s trip to Tinian was not supported by funding from [the council] when there is no reason it should have been excluded,” she added.
Scott Russell, NMI Council for the Humanities executive director, declined to comment.
On behalf of the community in Tinian, King said she extends her gratitude to the individual members who paid for the trip of Kluge.
Kluge conducted discussions on four American literary classics: “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Old Man and the Sea,” “Huckleberry Finn,” and “The Things They Carried.”
The four-week book discussion program ran from Jan. 18 to Feb. 12, 2010 in Saipan.
King said humanities programs are supposed to be extended to underserved areas of the CNMI like Rota and Tinian.
“Tinian and Rota are underserved, and this means they are an area in which there is a lack of access to arts and humanities programs, services, or resources due to a number of factors, which include geography,” she said.
King said she is hoping that there are members of the council board who see the value in these public programs being extended to Tinian and Rota.
