Dear President Naylor,
I'm afraid I must agree with many of my colleagues that the dissolution of the Centre for Comparative Literature is a squalid act unworthy of a great university. In particular, it is a blow to humane studies (which are all by nature comparative) at a time when humane studies are already gravely threatened by indifference and hostility from many quarters. Being a survivor of countless planning committees in academia, I am very well aware of the superficially plausible budgetary and pragmatic arguments that inspire proposals of this kind. The arguments are, I submit, as shortsighted and philistine as they are plausible.
Toronto, as the institution we know and love, has little to gain and much to lose in the long run from this penny-wise act of self-mutilation. I will not go on at boring length about the legacy of Northrop Frye, a wise and wonderful comparatist whom I had the pleasure of welcoming to a convention at Smith many years ago, and who is commemorated by two of the Toronto Centre's essential institutions. But it should be clear to you that one of the treasures the University is in danger of losing is its reputation. But bad as that will be, it is far from all. When the Centre is no more, we will all be losers.
Our consolation, such as it is, will be that WE will not have done the deed.
Yours very truly,
Harold Skulsky
Mary Augusta Jordan Professor of English Language and Literature
Emeritus, Smith College
Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Hofstra University
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