Less than one year after its formation, the Department of Classics and Philosophy faces dissolution.
College Council has proposed changes to discontinue the Classics BA degree and to cut over half of Classics staff. Under the plans, Classics degrees are expected to be phased out over three years, starting with a reduction in student numbers as of September 2012.There will be a 90 day consultation period before any changes go ahead.
Affected staff were briefed on the proposals prior to their discussion at College Council. They have also been offered counselling in ‘managing change.’
Remaining Classics staff would move to the History Department and Philosophy posts would be relocated in the Department of Politics and International Relations. Classics is expected to have a presence on Modern History courses. Those students presently enrolled will not be affected.
Head of Department, Anne Sheppard, earlier this year denied rumours that the Department may close. “I do not think there is any risk,” she said.
Mary Beard, professor in classics at Cambridge, believes the plans signal a ‘slow death’ for the department. “There will be no language teaching, which – in my view – always take the stuffing out of any classical enterprise,” she said.
“Royal Holloway is a good Classics department; and if you excise it from Royal Holloway, you impoverish and devalue all the humanities there.”
Academic Affairs Officer and Classics student, Carl Welch, believes the Students’ Union needs to campaign around the proposals. “The Classics department at RHUL is well respected, with pre-eminent scholars,” he said.“I find this decision to be vastly at odds with [Principal] Layzell’s plans as a whole.”
The Department of Classics and Philosophy welcomes support. All letters should be addressed to the Principal, Prof. Paul Layzell, and sent to the Department to be used as they see fit.
The college is keen to stress that “channels of communication will be opened up to staff, students, alumni and other parties.” This consultation will begin with an online discussion forum to be opened on Monday.
Royal Holloway asserts that: Council members are expected to comply with the seven principles of Standards in Public Life, namely Selflessness; Integrity; Objectivity; Accountability; Openness; Honesty and Leadership.
Perhaps someone can tell us how we get rid of Council members who do not comply? A ‘consultation’ process which consists of summoning people to tell them what has been decided is a disgrace.
Absolutely bang on the correct decision, especially in the face of government free-market reforms of HE. Classics is far too specialized to have its own department at RHUL, and studying Classics as a language (considering its lack of direct uses in the workplace) is something that should be done at Master’s level after a degree in History. It is similar to breaking off the other equally vast areas of History into separate departments – such as a Department for Empire or a Department for the History of Transport. And I fail to understand how someone can use their knowledge of classical civilizations (undoubtedly useful as it is) without having the wider knowledge of how these civilizations fit into the history of the planet as a whole. Separate classics departments are a backwards anachronism from the older days of universities where the scholars of Latin and Greek (especially in the light of the power of religion in society) was seen as a particularly refined pursuit. It’s not. It’s just a part of history like, say, Egyptology, or prehistorical studies.
Philosophy is a different matter – it is a different subject but as it is difficult to detach from Politics this decision is also probably correct in the face of the coming rationalization in HE.
The argument that we should only be embracing subjects which enable students to fit into a government’s economic strategy would suggest that rather than doing this in protective response to the free-market reforms in HE, we should be assisting the reforms.
Regardless of many very narrow conceptions of Classics (see above), the subject is a strong academic tradition with a huge scope in its own right, not just some freakish sideshow to History. Whether Classics is big enough to have its own department is of little relevance as what is being discussed here is the closure of the course. Classics and Philosophy as a department has significant administrative and educational benefits, particularly in light of recent suggestions of efforts to create a single honours Philosophy BA. “Classics as a language” is a straw-man, by the way, as Classics is not studied “as a language”; the language element to Classics, largely regarding the Ancients, is necessary so that students may interpret classical texts for themselves, rather than relying on some past scholar in the field.
The suggestion that the decision is also correct in the case of Philosophy is a flippant one, and I would suggest that Mr Jarvis has little knowledge or interest in the area. For the uninformed, while those studying politics must usually study some philosophy, this does not work both ways. First year philosophy contains just two weeks of political philosophy throughout the year, after which one may chose never to touch the political side of philosophy again. Hardly difficult to detach.
Saddening to see a highly regarded and prestigious degree for which our university is known for, be wiped from the course list. The argument that Classics is far too specialised is a ridiculous one, given RHUL’s ‘Media Arts’ offering, amongst other watered down courses.
It was evident that some kind of reshuffling was needed, however abolishing the BA Classics degree all together will do more harm than good. I have no doubt that despite the fact that the department is loss making, it is the very department which helps uphold the reputation of the university itself, and that added value outweighs the cost the department currently imposes on the university’s books.