RUSSIAN LIT--INFORMATION

[diane d williams]

Message from Gavriel, Chairman, Russian Literature, Cornell University:

After last week's outcry, here is a more detailed message on the situation
regarding the Department of Russian Literature at Cornell.

The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences has recently informed us of
the Administration's plans to phase out the Russian Literature Department
within the next two-three years because of the need, as he put it, "for a
new and severe financial retrenchment."  The Administration intends to
accomplish this by retiring the three senior faculty, George Gibian,
Patricia Carden, and Savely Senderovich, and by situating Nancy Pollak and
Gavriel Shapiro in the Department of Comparative Literature.  The Dean was
unwillling to listen to any proposals for a reorganization that stopped
short of complete abolition.

In the meantime, the Administration has decided to withdraw the two
graduate fellowships which it promised to our Department in December of
1996, merely allowing the existing graduate students to complete their
degrees.

The Administration never discussed the issue with the faculty of our
Department, nor did it consult the Cornell faculty in related areas, such
as Language and Linguistics (which historically have been placed separately
in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics), History, Political
Science and Government.

It appears that in making this decision, the Administration completely
disregarded Cornell's century-long tradition of interest in Russian
literature.  Cornell's first President, Andrew Dickson White, who visited
Russia in the 1890s and met there with Leo Tolstoi, laid the foundation for
the Russian library collection at Cornell.  Half a century later, Vladimir
Nabokov, one of the greatest writers of this century, taught Russian
literature at Cornell for more than ten years (1948-1959).  Since 1961,
Cornell University has developed its Russian literature program, both
undergraduate and graduate, which has become one of the best programs in
the nation.

Yes, our field in general, and particularly at Cornell, is presently going
through some lean years, but the abolition of this Department is no answer:
from Russia's own recent history we know too well how difficult it is to
rebuild what has been so easily destroyed.

At a time when both President Clinton and Congress emphasize the importance
of versatile education, the intention of the Cornell Administration to
dismantle the Department of Russian Literature does not square with the
University's reputation as a leading academic institution in the nation.




DDW, 255-8537
RUSSIAN LITERATURE
236 GOLDWIN SMITH