The humanities are an extremely important and integral part of our university. And the University of Wisconsin administration is beginning to disregard the humanities in a way that will negatively impact our campus in the future. This past spring, Dean Gary Sandefur of the College of Letters and Science notified the Comparative Literature Department that the university would like to shut it down, by asking Chair Mary Layoun to "voluntarily" close the department.
If the university starts shutting down smaller humanities departments, it will no longer be offering the education it has promised and historically provided. Instead, UW will become another large research school with a bland and insufficient humanities program.
UW has a long and storied history, and we proudly boast one of the best universities in the country. Part of our history — and the history of every university — is the role that the humanities play in helping students "develop an understanding and appreciation for the complex cultural and physical worlds in which they live and to realize their highest potential of intellectual, physical and human development," according to UW's mission statement.
Our university proudly boasts nine colleges, with more than 130 undergraduate programs. Among these programs are some very prominent and important humanities departments, such as art, history, English and philosophy. These are very established departments that offer long-standing humanities programs and perspectives on the world. But these programs alone do not make up the whole of the humanities program offered at UW. There are numerous smaller departments that also play integral roles both in the humanities and in the university as a whole.
It would be detrimental to our UW education if administration started closing and integrating these smaller humanities departments into just a few very large departments.
These smaller language and specialty programs usually have fewer than 100 enrolled undergraduate majors, and often fewer than 50. They also have small numbers of faculty, which means they are able to offer fewer courses compared to larger departments. Yet on the whole, many of these small departments out-perform the established expectations. The students usually double or triple major, and the faculty produce as much published material as other faculty while teaching more course hours.
The courses and programs offered by these smaller departments are usually very specialized, and most importantly examine aspects of and angles on the world that are left out in the broader studies offered by the larger humanities departments. These courses and programs interact with each other and the lessons learned on a whole at UW, to give their students a well-rounded "understanding and appreciation for the complex cultural and physical worlds in which [we] live."
One example of these hardworking small programs is the Department of Comparative Literature. According to the Office of the Registrar's 2005-06 Enrollment Report, there were only 22 comparative literature undergraduate majors. And according to the data compiled from the Office of Academic Planning and Analysis "Departmental Planning Profiles" (www.complit.lss.wisc.edu), there were only five CL faculty. These faculty members, according to the presented data, taught more credit hours than their counterparts in other small humanities departments. There were also more students and less faculty members in the CL Department than in similar departments. In effect, the CL Department is outperforming the high expectations that the university has for its small departments.
Even with these statistics behind the CL Department, the L&S administration has decided to deny the department the funding it needs for one more full-time professor (or two assistant professors — see the "Counter Proposal to Dean Sandefur…” on the CL Department website), and in effect shut down the department.
The simple fact is that the CL Department is holding its own without university financial or morale support, and is offering courses and an academic program that are an integral part of the humanities at UW. If the L&S administration succeeds in shutting down this department, they may have grounds to close more small humanities departments.
If the education offered at UW becomes less diverse and specialized, we as students will no longer receive the education we were promised when we enrolled. Small departments and programs play a large role at this university, and if they start to disappear the education offered here will diminish in quality and respectability.
One way to let the administration know it is neglecting an important and appreciated part of our university is to start exploring these departments by enrolling in some the intriguing courses they offer. Another is to e-mail Dean Sandefur and the L&S administration to let them know their intrusion on our education is not welcomed.
David Van Sant ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history, German and comparative literature.
