U of Toronto amalgamation also affects Slavic Languages, other languages/programs

[Katya Hokanson]

The "disestablishment" of Toronto's Comparative Literature Department  
also affects the Slavic Languages department, which I believe will  
also mean they can no longer admit graduate students, and many feel  
that literature will essentially be taught in service to language.   
The article notes:

	The other departments affected are: Italian, German, East Asian  
Studies, Spanish and Portuguese, and Slavic languages.

	Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/07/13/nb-northrop-frye-centre-close.html#socialcomments 
#ixzz0u9tcybpX

I have appended a petition from the similarly-affected East Asian  
Studies program at the University of Toronto to indicate their concerns.

Katya Hokanson
University of Oregon



To:  The Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences
A Strategic Planning Committee at the University of Toronto has  
recently proposed an amalgamation of the East Asian, Italian, German,  
Slavic, Spanish & Portuguese, and Comparative Literature Departments  
into a new "School of Languages and Literatures." This merger would  
effectively mean dissolution of the East Asian Studies Department by  
moving our language programmes and few literature professors into the  
new school while the remaining faculty members would be transferred to  
other disciplines. The EAS program at U of T would cease to exist.

We, the undersigned, are strongly opposed to this proposal. We predict  
it will harm both the university's reputation as a whole and the  
undergraduate educational experience. As easily one of the largest EAS  
departments in North America, the current enrolment in the  
undergraduate EAS program is roughly the same size as the other four  
departments involved in this proposal combined. Yet in the new school  
the East Asian unit would have only five professors, less than one  
third of the number in each of the other four departments. Not only  
does this cause an imbalance amongst the school itself, but a broad  
School of Languages and Literatures would simply not encourage the  
number of enrolments that are currently attracted by the renowned East  
Asian Studies department.

We are against this proposed departure from the EAS program's mandate  
of providing a platform for students to do critical humanities  
research on Asian society and culture. Amalgamating EAS into a School  
of Languages and Literatures and transferring remaining courses to  
other disciplines would effectively destroy opportunities for students  
at the University of Toronto to do the type of humanities research on  
Asia that they have been highly well-regarded for in the past. Not  
only would undergraduates lose the opportunity to engage in humanities  
study of Asia, but there would no longer be a graduate program that  
would attract the top level of Asian studies scholarship currently at  
U of T, or allow those students to receive grants from Asian  
foundations.

We are also concerned for the status of literature within this school,  
as it appears that literature will become primarily a tool in the  
study of language. Language alone would essentially become the primary  
mode of study of Asia, with all other components of study becoming  
secondary. This is an antiquated method of regional study and one that  
the faculty has diverged from in the past decade. It is this change  
that has attracted esteemed faculty to the university, and caused an  
increase in enrolment numbers, as well as earned respect from the  
wider community.

The East Asian Studies department at U of T is widely recognized and  
respected amongst global universities, which has allowed it to recruit  
professors at the top of their field from all over the world. If U of  
T no longer has an East Asian Studies department, it will be  
impossible for the university to attract those kinds of professors  
when in competition with other universities who still have autonomous  
academic departments for Asian studies. Also, if our current  
professors decide to stay at UofT despite these changes, they will be  
overwhelmed by larger departments, unable to offer advanced courses in  
their specialties and leaving students with far fewer courses  
available to them.

For these reasons we strongly protest the dissolution of East Asian  
Studies at the University of Toronto.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned



M, SEELANGS automatic digest system wrote:


> There is 1 message totalling 44 lines in this issue.
>
> Topics of the day:
>
>  1. Save Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto
>
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> Date:    Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:32:53 -0600
> From:    Natalia Pylypiuk <natalia.pylypiuk at UALBERTA.CA>
> Subject: Save Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I draw your attention to the following, rather disturbing news from
> the University of Toronto:
>
> University of Toronto plan decimates languages, humanities programs
> BY JEANNINE M. PITAS
> | JULY 12, 2010
>
> http://rabble.ca/news/2010/07/university-toronto-plan-decimates-languages-humanities-programs
>
> I also draw your attention to the following petition protesting the
> "disestablishment" of the Centre for Comparative Literature at the
> University of Toronto:
> http://www.petitiononline.com/complit/petition.html
>
> Please sign it, if you support the idea of studying literatures from a
> comparative perspective, and feel free to circulate the petition  
> widely.
>
> Thank you and best wishes,
>
>
> Natalia Pylypiuk, PhD, Professor
> Ukrainian Culture, Language & Literature Program
> [www.arts.ualberta.ca/~ukraina/]
> Modern Languages & Cultural Studies
> 200 Arts, University of Alberta
> Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E6
>
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> ------------------------------
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> End of SEELANGS Digest - 14 Jul 2010 to 15 Jul 2010 (#2010-235)
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