OSU-Slavic Dept

[Rosa-Maria Cormanick]

LETTER FROM PROFESSOR AND CHAIR CHARLES E. GRIBBLE        June 1996
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Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Because of the interest you have shown in our Slavic and East European
Languages and Literatures Department at The Ohio State University, I am
writing to summarize the events which have transpired and give the
results.

An Ad Hoc Committee On The Future of the Department of Slavic and East
European Languages and Literatures was appointed in January, 1996 by Dean
Kermit Hall of the College of Humanities.  This Committee had six members,
four from various other departments of the College, one from outside the
College, me as the member from the Department of SEELL, and Associate Dean
Martha Garland served as a non-voting member ex officio.  The charge of
the Committee was to consider the present state and future prospects of
the Department; its work ran parallel to the regular University Program
Review Committee for the department but its focus was somewhat different
from that of the Program Review Committee.  Professor Brian Joseph, Chair
of the Department of the Department of Linguistics, who chaired the Ad Hoc
Committee, also served on the Program Review Committee and served as liaison
between the two committees.  From January 12 through April 10 the Ad Hoc
Committee had about fifteen meetings, partially as a whole and partially as
a subset of the whole Committee, and heard from a variety of constituencies.

At the end of its deliberations, the Committee submitted a Report to Dean
Hall, and this Report was accepted by a vote of the College faculty at its
quarterly meeting on May 9.  Among the conclusions in the Report were the
following:  1)..."at the present time there should be a place for the study
of Slavic and East European languages and literatures on campus..."; 2)
"There are no compelling reasons at present to disperse or merge the
Department; rather, it should be maintained as a self-standing, independent
unit...";  3) certain changes are needed in the focus and operation of the
department, and recommendations were made.  Some of these recommendations
are already in the process of being implemented and others are being consid-
ered for implementaion.

In the heat of the debate certain statements were made which did not
accurately reflect what had occurred and was occurring.  Such statements
are unfortunate and we must make every effort to ignore them and put them
aside as we move forward to implement the recommendations and build an
even better Department.

Thank you again for your concern for our Department.

                              Sincerely,

                              Charles E. Gribble
                              Professor and Chair
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P.S.  A hard-copy of this letter is in the process of being sent to all
persons that sent copies of their letters to the Department.  Thank you
again for all your support!                             cormanick.1 at osu.edu
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