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READER COMMENTARY: End of Classics dept risks liberal arts
Letters to the Editor | 4/28/09
Posted online at 6:26 AM EST on 4/28/09
To the Editor:
Regarding your article "Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee releases report" (April 21 issue): I am shocked that Brandeis would even consider turning viable departments into programs simply because they happen to be interdisciplinary in nature.
As a product of the Classical Studies department, which was the primary reason I chose to attend Brandeis in the first place, I would be terribly embarrassed to tell people the University from which I received my degree should Brandeis choose to demote Classical Studies as well as American Studies and African and Afro-American Studies to the status of a program.
A possible closure of existing interdisciplinary programs, one of which I successfully expanded into an additional independent major, would likewise promote the idea that Brandeis neither supports nor encourages interdisciplinary study, which would become even more subordinate to study within the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Brandeis' support and promotion of interdisciplinary education carrying the weight of majors was largely the reason I not only declared two interdisciplinary majors while at Brandeis but also pursued interdisciplinary graduate education and ultimately ended up as a professor in an interdisciplinary college department.
Given these recommendations from the CARS committee, I fear for the future of Brandeis' commitment to liberal arts and for the continued prestige of a Brandeis liberal arts degree.
-Dr. Ilana Krug
Baltimore, Md.
Regarding your article "Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee releases report" (April 21 issue): I am shocked that Brandeis would even consider turning viable departments into programs simply because they happen to be interdisciplinary in nature.
As a product of the Classical Studies department, which was the primary reason I chose to attend Brandeis in the first place, I would be terribly embarrassed to tell people the University from which I received my degree should Brandeis choose to demote Classical Studies as well as American Studies and African and Afro-American Studies to the status of a program.
A possible closure of existing interdisciplinary programs, one of which I successfully expanded into an additional independent major, would likewise promote the idea that Brandeis neither supports nor encourages interdisciplinary study, which would become even more subordinate to study within the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Brandeis' support and promotion of interdisciplinary education carrying the weight of majors was largely the reason I not only declared two interdisciplinary majors while at Brandeis but also pursued interdisciplinary graduate education and ultimately ended up as a professor in an interdisciplinary college department.
Given these recommendations from the CARS committee, I fear for the future of Brandeis' commitment to liberal arts and for the continued prestige of a Brandeis liberal arts degree.
-Dr. Ilana Krug
Baltimore, Md.
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