Dear Cheryl,
I've just returned from research abroad and am sorry to have to add my name to those expressing extreme dismay at what has transpired in the review process of Arts and Science. Not only were the letters from the Dean that I have seen or heard about ill-considered in their tone and misleading in their accusations, but the threatened closure or transformation of Comp Lit has done enormous damage to the University's reputation. This closure, as well as those of DTS and Ethics, that people worked so hard to create in the last round of budgeting, are deeply harmful to the intellectual life and morale at the university. There should be ways to address the budget crisis that do do not strike at the heart of the intellectual mission of the Humanities. The review process itself was biased insofar as it required the production of certain kinds of falsely objective 'data' that do not fit the humanities and humanistic social sciences models of understanding the world. I humbly suggest that the decisions be put on hold for another 6 months until there can be a proper review by a new set of scholars that focuses on intellectual integrity as much as 'output.' When the headlines of the national paper tell us that U of T would welcome Michael Ignatieff as director of the Munk Centre (at what kind of salary?) at the same time as the Bulletin contains a lot of double talk to paper over the closure of Comparative Literature, it is evident that there is a serious distortion of priorities.
I sympathize with the stress you must be under and the difficult fiscal realities, but please do stand up to this challenge.
best,
Michael
--
Michael Lambek, FRSC
Professor of Anthropology &
Canada Research Chair
University of Toronto at Scarborough
I've just returned from research abroad and am sorry to have to add my name to those expressing extreme dismay at what has transpired in the review process of Arts and Science. Not only were the letters from the Dean that I have seen or heard about ill-considered in their tone and misleading in their accusations, but the threatened closure or transformation of Comp Lit has done enormous damage to the University's reputation. This closure, as well as those of DTS and Ethics, that people worked so hard to create in the last round of budgeting, are deeply harmful to the intellectual life and morale at the university. There should be ways to address the budget crisis that do do not strike at the heart of the intellectual mission of the Humanities. The review process itself was biased insofar as it required the production of certain kinds of falsely objective 'data' that do not fit the humanities and humanistic social sciences models of understanding the world. I humbly suggest that the decisions be put on hold for another 6 months until there can be a proper review by a new set of scholars that focuses on intellectual integrity as much as 'output.' When the headlines of the national paper tell us that U of T would welcome Michael Ignatieff as director of the Munk Centre (at what kind of salary?) at the same time as the Bulletin contains a lot of double talk to paper over the closure of Comparative Literature, it is evident that there is a serious distortion of priorities.
I sympathize with the stress you must be under and the difficult fiscal realities, but please do stand up to this challenge.
best,
Michael
--
Michael Lambek, FRSC
Professor of Anthropology &
Canada Research Chair
University of Toronto at Scarborough
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