呼吁信可以写给如下地址，同时用电子邮件发给东亚系主任, Prof. Tom Keirstead tom.keirstead@utoronto.ca Prof. Meric Gerler, DeanUniversity of TorontoFaculty of Arts Science 100 St. George Street, Toronto ON CANADA M5S 3G3 officeofthedean.artsci@utoronto.ca
July 12 2010 Alert: Dismantling East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto **************************************** From: Frank Joseph Shulman Dear Colleagues, This may well be of immediate interest to the community of scholars and students engaged in East Asian Studies throughout North America. Best wishes, Frank Joseph Shulman July 1, 2010 Frank Joseph Shulman Bibliographer, Editor and Consultant for Reference Publications in Asian Studies 9225 Limestone Place College Park, Maryland 20740-3943 (U.S.A.) E-mail: fshulman@umd.edu ________________________________________ From: koreanstudies-bounces@koreaweb.ws [koreanstudies-bounces@koreaweb.ws] On Behalf Of Andre Schmid [andre.schmid@utoronto.ca] Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 9:39 AM To: koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws Subject: [KS] Request, re: Korean Studies in Toronto Dear colleagues, We are writing to you with some unfortunate news concerning institutional developments at the University of Toronto, developments which threaten the future of our Korean Studies program. Last week, it was announced that the Department of East Asian Studies, which provides the core for our graduate program in Korean Studies, is to be dismantled. A small part of the department will be reallocated to a new School of Language and Literature while the rest of the faculty members will be dispersed among other disciplinary departments. This momentous decision was made without prior notice or consultation, despite its overwhelming importance to many of us in Toronto. At a time when the University of Toronto has been able to develop a vibrant and multi-faceted Korean Studies program, the home of that program – the Department of East Asian Studies – is about to be eliminated. This, of course, will have severe repercussions for our growing graduate studies programme. We are hoping to reverse this decision and in this struggle are seeking your support. Many of us in the department – and especially in the Korean Studies programme – would appreciate if you assist us in expressing our opposition to this move by writing a letter to our Dean at the following address (with an electronic copy for our records to our current interim Chair, Prof. Tom Keirstead tom.keirstead@utoronto.ca tom.keirstead@utoronto.ca>). Prof. Meric Gerler, Dean University of Toronto Faculty of Arts & Science 100 St. George Street Toronto, ON CANADA M5S 3G3 (officeofthedean.artsci@utoronto.ca officeofthedean.artsci@utoronto.ca>) We would be most happy to answer any of your questions and would be very appreciate of your support. Sincerely, Juhn Ahn Kyoungnok Ko Janet Poole Andre Schmid Korean Studies Faculty members, Dept. of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto
We would be most happy to answer any of your questions and would be very appreciate of your support.
Sincerely, Juhn Ahn Kyoungnok Ko Janet Poole Andre Schmid
Korean Studies Faculty members, Dept. of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto
From: Thomas Keirstead <tom.keirstead@utoronto.ca>
Dear Colleagues,
Earlier this year I wrote to tell you about a proposal that would have seen the end of East Asian Studies as an independent department at the University of Toronto. I'm writing today to let you know that this plan to amalgamate EAS with programs in European languages and literatures in a School of Languages and Literatures has been abandoned. EAS at Toronto will continue as a department. In a memorandum released last week, Dean Meric Gertler announced that "it now seems likely that the Faculty will be able to achieve its academic objectives without proposing the creation of a School, leaving the six units intact as standalone departments/centres." The Provost, in a meeting with the department, confirmed this.
I'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of you who wrote the dean or otherwise agitated on our behalf; your support was, I think, crucial in convincing the dean of the value of East Asian Studies as a department and discipline.
Tom Keirstead Interim Chair Dept of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto
下面是多大东亚系见习主任 Tom Keirstead 今天在 H-Asia 上发给全球东亚学者的呼吁信，把事情的来龙去脉和影响解释得很清楚。
H-ASIA July 17 2010
Closing of EAS Department at University of Toronto ************************************ From: Thomas Keirstead <tom.keirstead@utoronto.ca>
Dear Colleagues, You may have noted an announcement from the Koreanists at the University of Toronto, calling attention to plans to close the department of East Asian Studies here. Please forgive the potential duplication, but I'd like to stress that the prospect of "disestablishment" affects all of us who research and teach East Asia. We've prepared some information and a call for help.
Thank you, Tom Keirstead Interim Chair, Interim Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto
Background
On Wednesday, June 23, Prof. Meric Gertler, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto, announced to the chairs of the Departments of East Asian Studies, German, Italian, Slavic, and Spanish & Portuguese, that their departments would be dissolved and consolidated into a new School of Languages and Literatures (SLL). The following Monday, the Centre for Comparative Literature was added to the programs to be closed and relocated.
These closures and the formation of the new School are among the recommendations contained in an academic plan for the Faculty of Arts and Science meant to cover the next five years. The formulation of the academic plan began last fall, when the Dean’s office called upon all units in the Faculty to submit their own plans for the five-year period. Context for these plans was supplied by a document< http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/faculty-staff/academic-planning/cpad-info/pdfs/2009-2010/context-directions.pdf> issued by the Dean in October. A nine-member Strategic Planning Committee< http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/faculty-staff/academic-planning/cpad-info/pdfs/2009-2010/19-2009-10.pdf> (SPC) headed by the Dean and composed of members of the Dean’s office and representatives of the faculty was struck to evaluate the units’submissions. This committee met, without further input or consultation,throughout the Winter and Spring, finally delivering its recommendations on July 14, as the Faculty of Arts & Science Academic Plan, 2010-2015 <http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/faculty-staff/academic-planning/pdfs/linked-fas-academic-plan-14-07-10.pdf>. Crucial details, however, are available only in the ndividual responses sent to departments by the SPC in late June; these have not been made public.
What is EAS?
We are a department of about 15 members, whose specialties cover East Asian literature, history, thought, and religion. Home to nearly 1000 majors,minors, and specialists, EAS operates one of the largest undergraduate programs in the Faculty. We enjoy robust enrollments in all of our courses, and, with some two-thirds of our majors or East Asian heritage, especially serve the large Asian community in Toronto and throughout Canada.
What the Academic Plan Means
1. The Department of East Asian Studies will be dissolved. Members of the department who are not specialists in languages and literature will be reassigned to other units. The University of Toronto will lose its only unit dedicated to teaching and researching the great humanistic traditions of East Asia, and the university will become the only major research institution in North America that does not have an autonomous department of East Asian Studies. The U of T will have an institutional profile in this important field more appropriate for a small liberal arts college, not a world leader in research in the humanities.
1. Existing students will have difficulty finding courses to meet graduation requirements, and future students who might want to study East Asian languages and cultures in an integrated program will not be able to do so. They will have to cobble together a program of study from the occasional offerings of a number of departments.
1. Donors will not be able to invest in the development of a program in East Asian humanities. With East Asianists scattered across a number of departments, there will be no institutional focus tied to a strong teaching program. Already, major donors have expressed strong reservations, calling the proposed school a “setback” in our efforts to nurture a new generation of East Asian experts.
1. The proposed school imposes an artificial and Eurocentric division on the study of East Asian humanities. Literature in the East Asian context encompasses history and philosophy and religion, as well as the imaginative texts commonly labeled ‘literature’ in the West. Divorcing the study of East Asian languages and literature from the study of East Asian history,religion, philosophy, and other arts, the Dean’s plans will harm the study of all aspects of the humanities.
What you can do to help
1. Support out students. EAS students have formed a facebook group and posted information about their efforts: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=140492929295640 or http://saveeastasianstudies.wordpress.com <http://saveeastasianstudies.wordpress.com/>. They have also set up an online petition that anyone who shares our concerns about the future of East Asian Studies can sign: http://www.petitiononline.com/saveeas/petition.html.
1. Write a letter to our dean. We would be very grateful for expressions of support from our colleagues in the field of East Asian Studies as we protest the dean’s decision on the future of our department. If you feel inclined to support us, please send letters, preferably on institutional letterhead, to:
Prof. Meric Gertler Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science University of Toronto 100 St. George Street Toronto, ON CANADA M5S 3G3 (officeofthedean.artsci@utoronto.ca<mailto: officeofthedean.artsci@utoronto.ca>)
with a copy (electronic is fine) me:
Tom Keirstead East Asian Studies 130 St. George St., Room 14087 Toronto ON M5S 3H1 (tom.keirstead@utoronto.ca<mailto:tom.keirstead@utoronto.ca>)
Chronicle of Higher Education 7月13号发表了一篇文章，专门讨论了多伦多大学学科重组的问题。在随后的讨论中，该校文理学院院长Meric Gertler 发表了一个类似声明的东西。放在一起读，可以更明白一些事情的来龙去脉。
Faced with a ballooning deficit, the University of Toronto plans to close its internationally renowned Centre for Comparative Literature, which was founded by the iconic literary critic Northrop Frye. It would also downsize or eliminate several other entities in the humanities and amalgamate most language departments into a new school.
"We had to take a hard look at everything," said Meric Gertler, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science and chair of the Strategic Planning Committee that is proposing major changes in its impending five-year plan. "It's time to move around the furniture a bit. A number of departments and units are quite small, so, by restructuring and amalgamating, we can save significantly on overheads."
Students and professors have expressed shock and dismay, especially at the proposal to close down the literature center that Mr. Frye created more than 40 years ago. It is a graduate school that has attracted hundreds of international scholars to the campus. Current students would remain part of the center under the restructuring plan, but professors and future students would become part of a new School of Languages and Literatures.
"I'm very concerned about the graduate students," said Neil ten Kortenaar, the center's director, who wrote a strongly worded letter to the administration warning that Toronto's reputation will take a hit, along with its intellectual credibility, and predicting there will be a loss of scholars. "Comparative literature attracts some of the most engaged, most interesting students at the university. They work in different languages, in very different fields, and you might think they would have little to say to each other. But because they have comparison in common, they actually find a lot of common ground."
Letters of Protest Mr. Frye, the critic and author of The Great Code: The Bible and Literature who died in 1991, made the university one of the premier, if not the best, places for studying critical theory. Letter-writing campaigns and petitions are under way to try to prevent the closure, but the center's survival is unlikely, said Mr. Gertler, the dean. "Yes, it's sad to see it go, but Frye's legacy will continue," he said. "What was revolutionary or radical in the 60s has become embedded in the mainstream."
The center's doctoral students are particularly worried, especially over what the closure may do to their employment prospects. "It's scary and even more so when you look at the attitude trends against the humanities," said Rachel Stapleton, one of the students who has organized a protest Web site. "It's scary to think that this is the attitude of the university toward the humanities."
English and French would remain as departments, but other languages would become part of the School of Languages and Literatures. Ricardo Sternberg, a professor in the Spanish and Portuguese department, says the problem is in the lack of details about how the school will function. "Our problem is not knowing how it's going to run. The devil will be in the details."
More will be known later this week when the five-year plan is officially released. The unveiling will be followed by a series of meetings.
Fears of Loss of Prestige Professors in the East Asian-studies department worry that the proposal would require them to take a backward step. Their department teaches more than language, they point out, and, with 1,000 major and minor students, it is probably the largest of its kind in North America. A letter to the administration from Thomas Keirstead, interim chair designate, posted on one of the Facebook sites, says that the move would adversely affect East Asian studies' recruiting and reputation.
Toronto's changes to its language departments come amid some concerns over what's happening to programs in the United States.
Linda Hutcheon, a former president of the Modern Language Association who earned the first Ph.D. granted by the center, in 1975, said in an e-mail message that other colleges' experiences make her fear what may come next. "The flourishing individual language departments that will be united in the new school will now compete with each other for resources; in many other institutions, this has meant a gradual atrophy of the study of languages," she wrote. "We understand the economic realities of difficult times but fear this is too drastic a measure for a university that has always cared deeply about its fine reputation in the humanities."
该校文理学院院长Meric Gertler 的声明
17. universityoftoronto - July 16, 2010 at 09:54 am
Contrary to the impression conveyed by your article, the humanities are strong and healthy at the University of Toronto. Much of our reputation is deservedly based on the excellence of our humanities scholarship. The humanities are the heart and soul of the University of Toronto, and will remain so in the future.
The University of Toronto is facing the same financial pressures that are being felt today by all publicly supported universities, and the Faculty of Arts & Science has had to develop a strategy to respond to its financial challenges. At the same time, respected peers reviewed the Faculty in 2008, and advised that we reduce the number of administrative units in light of our increasingly constrained resources.
Our planning process has directed equal scrutiny to all units within the Faculty. As a result, our proposals to restructure existing units, identify resources for redeployment towards more pressing needs, and require undergraduate teaching from graduate-only units are distributed across all three sectors of the Faculty: humanities, social sciences and sciences.
Moreover, the benefits accruing to humanities units in the first wave of commitments arising from our plan will be very similar to those flowing to social science and science units. We have already committed 19 new faculty positions to humanities units, and more than $3.4 million in base budget resources to support teaching and research. Over the full five years of the plan, our forecasts indicate that additional new appointments in the humanities will most likely exceed those flowing to science and social science units by a substantial margin. These commitments are in addition to the $60 million the Faculty has already contributed to support the establishment of the Jackman Humanities Institute, our flagship interdisciplinary humanities centre. Finally, we have recently implemented changes to the undergraduate curriculum which ensure that even more of our students undertake study in the humanities.
Sincerely,
Meric Gertler Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science University of Toronto
So it's more of a restructuring or consolidation of departments, not actually closing of programs and departments? Then it is not as bad as I first imagined it to be. At least I hope the faculty positions will be saved?
I won't comment on whether or not there were underlying "anti-Chinese" undertones in the closing, but just for the record wish to point out that the closure affects the following departments:
Italian, German, East Asian Studies, Spanish. Portuguese, and Slavic Languages
as well as the afore-mentioned Centre for Comparative Literature.
Again let me re-iterate, I am not happy that this is happening, but I don't know why one should not accept the reasons given for consolidating these departments into the new School of Languages and Literatures.
The University also says no teaching jobs will be lost as a result of the consolidation.
It’s very unfortunate but this has been coming for some time. The U of T’s Arts and Science Faculty has a $55 million debt which it must pare down. Contrary to what 信济 may be surmising, it has nothing to do with the recent controversy about foreign government influence-peddling. For instance another casualty is the renowned Centre for Comparative Literature founded by Canadian literary icon Northrop Frye.
It is a crying shame, nonetheless, that the Department of East Asian Studies is unable to continue on its own. It and several departments will be merged into the new Munk School of Global Affairs, so it will have a new incarnation.
Thanks for your concern. It is indeed shocking. The main reason given by the dean is that the department is a "unmanageable and uncontrolable unit", but the underlying reason is the budget problem, the Faculty of Arts and Science has a huge deficit and tries to save money by dismantling several departments. the EAS department is only one of them.
