Alarm from a Mediterranean Archaelogist
Dear Editors,
I read with alarm of the proposed threat to the study of Classics and Archaeology at Queens.
I am a Mediterranean Archaeologist who has immense admiration for the Faculty of your Classics and Archaeology Department. My personal knowledge is of Prof. Fabio Colivicchi, but I also know from their publications and high reputation for teaching that he is surrounded by equally distinguished colleagues.
I very much trust and hope that you will allow the important studies of Archaeology and Classics to continue to thrive, even in the context of the specialist small scale language teaching which is at the heart of Mediterranean and Western civilisation.
I also write as someone with a strong Manitoban and Newfoundland heritage who wishes to see great research and teaching flourish in all Canadian universities, so your proposed steps are a threat to my two main identities, European and Canadian.
Yours sincerely,
Prof. Simon Stoddart
Department of Archaeology
University of Cambridge
Thanks to Professor Colvicchi
Dear Editors,
Thanks to Professor Colivicchi in the Department of Classics and Archaeology at Queen’s University. I have been informed of the threat to abolish small language classes in Greek and Latin. I believe this is a serious disservice to the students at Queen’s, who until now have had the benefit of learning the classical languages and of applying their knowledge to study and research at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Beyond the immediate focus of the Department of Classics, Greek and Latin are as fundamental to a university education as mathematics or English, subjects that provide students with the ability to think, read, and write. And, for the scholarly prestige of a major university, Queen’s is recognized for providing an excellent undergraduate education as well as graduate research in many fields, many of which are linked together across departmental boundaries. While Greek and Latin may seem to serve mostly students in Classics, many if not most subjects within the university are based on research and texts going back in time and continuing into the future, all needing access to faculty teaching courses allowing everybody, regardless of numbers, an opportunity to learn.
Respectfully,
Professor Emerita Ingrid Edlund-Berry
Department of Classics
University of Texas at Austin
Expressing solidarity to Greek and Latin
Dear Editors,
I learn that the Dean’s office does not intend to continue Greek and Latin courses at Queen’s.
I am astonished by the lightness with which such a destructive decision is taken for the entire field of the humanities for which the two languages are of vital importance and whose abandonment would lead to a much broader crisis of the entire field of studies by impoverishing a glorious tradition that does not deserve this humiliation and should instead be supported and encouraged.
I express all my solidarity on behalf of the Departments of History, Archaeology, Geography, Fine and Performing Arts of the University of Florence to the colleagues who teach these subjects and in general engaged in classical studies. I earnestly request that you reconsider such a devastating decision that casts a serious shadow over the university and will certainly lower its international reputation.
Best regards,
Prof. Paolo Liverani
Università Degli Studi Di Firenze
Fundamental to education
Dear Editors,
Colleagues from the Department of Classics and Archaeology at Queen’s University have informed me of the challenging situation they are facing due to the reduction of Greek and Latin courses. I recall that in my university, there was a moment of similar difficulties for archaeology and ancient history, and I worked to overcome them through degree and doctoral programs in cultural heritage.
I am indeed convinced that the study of Greek, Latin, archaeology, and ancient history is fundamental to the education of students. Modern democracies have also emerged from the Enlightenment, which was inspired by democratic ideas found in the classics. Without Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch, modern culture would not be the same. Therefore, the choices of some governments to reduce or limit classical studies as less useful for the education of young people have been and are detrimental in the long term. I have noticed for some time that there are more and more scholars conducting research on the ancient world without knowing Greek or even Latin, in addition to some modern languages essential for the study of the ancient world. This significantly lowers the quality of studies.
For this reason, I join the classicist colleagues at Queen’s University in expressing the hope that classical studies are not subject to reductions and cuts.
With the highest regards,
Prof. Attilio Mastrocinque
Reconsider drastic measures
Dear Editors,
As an Associate Professor of Classics in the Department of History, Classics, and Religion at the University of Alberta, I am writing to ask you to reconsider the drastic measure of “denying [Classics and Archaeology] the permission we need to run our second-year language courses, and with virtually no notice for this about-face.”
Such a move, while the semester is in progress is, to put it simply, unfair. It is changing the rules mid-game, a move particularly disingenuous since the department had worked in good faith with the Dean’s Office last fall “to find an innovative solution to this cap, and in spite of the fact that we had reassurances that our solution would provide us with the temporary approval that we needed (allowing us time to restructure our course offerings to meet the new threshold).” Setting aside the unfairness of such a measure, its implications are clear: the gutting of a vibrant and thriving program, one that has been at Queen’s since its inception. And the very fact that the department has been recently renamed “Classics AND Archaeology” shows that it has not been averse to innovation. In fact, Queen’s has one of the most vibrant Classical Archaeology programs in Canada, running three concurrent excavations this upcoming summer alone (Stobi, Nora, and Caere). Such excavations are extremely attractive to students who not only get a solid education but also have the opportunity to travel and represent Canada and Queen’s abroad. But much of what is excavated at these sites cannot be properly interpreted without the requisite grounding in Classics generally, and Latin and Greek specifically. By setting a minimum cap of 10 students to a class would effectively eliminate the upper-level language classes and thereby diminish the reputation of the department within Canada and the world. To do so would be to undermine the very mission you claim to uphold. Do not sacrifice such a core department as Classics and Archaeology at the expense of a temporary budget deficit. A long-term plan should include, not exclude, the department. Innovation appears to be at the core of your mission. I challenge you to find a way to innovate that retains such a foundational and thriving department.
Thank you for your consideration.
John Harris
Associate Professor, Department of History, Classics, and Religion
University of Alberta
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