报告说明，此决策是多大最新五年计划的一部分。动作涉及8个部门：意大利，德国，西班牙，葡萄牙和斯拉夫语言，和三个高知名度的部门：伦理 (Centre for Ethics) ，东亚研究系 (Department of East Asian Studies) ，及有40年悠长历史的比较文学中心(Centre for Comparative Literature) 。其目的不是解散，而是合并和重组一个新的语言文学院(School of Languages and Literatures)，所有教职员工将被编入此学院或其他学系，没有任何员工会被淘汰。该语言文学院将成为多大现有的芒克全球事务学院 (Munk School of Global Affairs) 的附属。芒克学院已经有一个亚洲研究所(Asian Institute)。
首先，所謂重視“亞洲”，南亞和東亞應該合併，這些觀點都是基於一個前提：亞洲是一個整體。可是當代學者早已告訴我們，所謂亞洲不過是被歐洲人建構的一個名詞，作為形容所有Eurasia大陸上的非歐洲人來用。現在各大學招聘的時候，凡是有點水平，美國前三百名的學校，幾乎都是招East Asian History/Culture，South Asian History/Culture等等的職位，沒有人會把兩者強行合併。
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 individual 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>)
昭君， The way I understand it, Langs and Lits will be a sub of Munk, which in turn is a sub of the Faculty of Arts and Science. Munk is a very ambitious undertaking. Just take a look at these first year offerings:
Introduction to the Development of the Global System International Economics Global Civil Society Decision Making and Strategic Development in the Global System Global Policy Analysis Global Security Public International Law
There is a also a joint JD and MGA (Master of Global Affairs) programme.
Mr. Munk (of Barrick Gold) made a $35 million donation to get it going, so it will not have to prove itself to the cost-cutting committee.
East Asia will do fine in Munk, I believe, but it has to prove that it can be an effective team-player.
Very balanced analysis! As always, thanks for sharing your insights and wisdom:)!
In my limited experience with regional universities (not with a big, comprehensive university like UT), College of Arts and Sciences usually tend to have more internal conflicts and problems, simply because there are so many different disciplines and programs within it (just think about the conflicting "world views" held by professors in social sciences and natural sciences). So it's not surprising that internal conflicts would lead to the outcome of "unmanageable and uncontrollable" situation, as cited by the Dean in his decision to dissolve the center.
How is the new "Munk School of Global Affairs" related to the CAS after the restructuring? Are they parallel units within the system? Hopefully, by putting the East Asia Studies program with the other area studies and language programs into "School of Global Affairs" , there could be more potential synergies among them - if the faculty members learn from this unfortunate incident and start to collaborate and unite as they should have before:).
