AMST students, faculty against CARS proposals
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.
Although the CARS report states that these recommendations would enable American Studies to "continue to thrive and even to grow as an interdisciplinary program and major," Prof. Thomas Doherty wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that he thinks these recommendations will adversely affect American Studies and result in a "slow, sure academic meltdown."
"If approved, it will mean the end of a rigorous American Studies curriculum at Brandeis University," Doherty wrote.
Prof. Steven Burg (POL), a member of the CARS committee, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that he believes the interdepartmental programs will be strengthened by the recommendations.
"The proposal to reorganize these departments makes more sense at this time because of the several other recommendations by CARS that will, if adopted, strengthen the role of inter-departmental programs in determining the curriculum, defining priorities for future faculty appointments, and generally elevating the status of inter-departmental programs in academic policymaking processes," Burg wrote.
Burg also wrote that he believes this recommendation would enable more courses to count toward the American Studies major and would increase the amount of faculty teaching courses that would count for the major, which will "make it easier to absorb the impact of any future retirements or other departures of faculty without undermining the major."
Schloss wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the CARS recommendation concerning American Studies was made in haste and would reflect poorly on the University. "This change is solely detrimental, not only to the American studies students, faculty and alumni, but to the University itself," she wrote.
Alissa Cherry '10, an American Studies major, said that the committee's recommendations raised concerns for her about the value of her degree and said she did not understand the reasoning behind the recommendation.
"When I first heard about it, my initial reaction was that my degree wasn't going to be worth anything. I am not happy about it all. The American Studies program is probably one of the most successful programs on campus, and you don't try and fix what isn't broken," she said.
Jennifer Abidor '11, another American Studies major, said, "It's a shame because it's such a relevant major to our lives and our culture and it incorporates so many different elements of our culture in a unique way that not many other schools offer. The faculty on American Studies has been working on it for so long, and it's a shame to see it fall apart. It is not the type of department I feel can be dispersed into other departments," she said.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Justice.