The Justice

Media Credit: Julian Agin-Liebes Dean Adam Jaffe and Prof. Sacha Nelson (BIOL) respond to questions.

The reactions from students and faculty to the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee's recommendation to convert American Studies from a department to one of three interdepartmental programs have been overwhelmingly negative.

Students and faculty in the American Studies department have expressed dissatisfaction with the recommendation involving the American Studies department that was released last Monday in the CARS committee's report.

The CARS recommendation specifically proposes transforming American Studies from a department to an interdepartmental program while maintaining the major and minor, reassigning American Studies faculty to different departments, reducing the faculty by four over time and recruiting new faculty to teach courses in the interdepartmental program.

American Studies Undergraduate Department Representative Lauren Schloss '11 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that she and the fellow UDRs Robin Lichtenstein '11 and Hannah Vickers '10 have circulated a petition demonstrating student support for American Studies and opposition to the CARS recommendation. The petition has garnered 300 signatures. Schloss and Vickers have also created a Facebook group titled Save the American Studies Department to protest the recommendation.

Prof. Stephen Whitfield, chair of the American Studies department, said that his reaction was one of "pain, hurt and consternation."

"While we are more than willing to bear the burden the financial crisis imposes, we could find no compelling reason why the price we are asked to pay is so disproportionate," Whitfield said, adding that "the reduction in our status is also bound to give our students the sense that their studies have been depreciated as well."

Prof. Richard Gaskins (AMST) said he was mystified by the recommendation. "This recommendation is inconsistent with the overall goals of the CARS report," he said, explaining that if the report was intended to encourage departments to share resources more freely, then it should have recommended that various departments that have similarities, like Politics, History and American Studies, coordinate rather than eliminate an entire department like American Studies by making the major interdepartmental.

Continued...

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