July 15, 2010
Professor David Naylor
President
University of Toronto
27 King’s College Circle, Room 206
Toronto ON M5S 1A1
Dear Professor Naylor,
Permit me to add my voice to the flood of voices raised in dismay at the proposed disestablishment of the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto. As a specialist in African literature and postcolonial theory, I have been very pleased to be cross–appointed at the Centre. However, when in its Plan 2009–2014 the Centre declared its intention to open our program up to “scholarly and cultural conversations” being conducted in languages around the world, including First Nations languages, I was further delighted. Comparativity at Toronto, I thought, has now chosen to keep a tryst with World Literature.
So you can imagine my consternation at learning that, by successfully proselytizing “theory” to national language literature departments, Comparative Literature has exhausted its intellectual mandate and rendered itself academically redundant. May I point out that “theory” in Comparative Literature has never been just about itself? Because language, representation, and the human (and, sometimes, the subhuman and inhuman), the substance that “theory” grapples with, are dynamic, and because that dynamism is inherent in the literary “conversations” to which Plan 2009–2014 refers, to dissolve the Centre now would be to signal to all that we do not wish our faculty and students to participate. Could we seriously claim that students and faculty working in a diminished collaborative program would be able to meet the challenges of comparativity in the 21st century? If we must “work across” the languages of literature in order to study phenomena transnationally in their global dimension, then preserving the Centre for Comparative Literature would serve us best.
I understand that to “preserve the quality of education” in the Faculty of Arts and Science, as Dean Meric Gertler rightly argues, we must exercise fiscal prudence. That is why I would not suggest that Comparative Literature should not share the burden of dealing with the Faculty’s $60-million deficit. Rather, what I urge is that the University avoid goring its cows, sacred and profane, in the name of fiscal prudence. If I may speak for Comparative Literature and similar metaphorical bovines, I suspect that given the chance they, like humans, would happily go on a strict diet for a while than die.
Yours sincerely,
Uzoma Esonwanne
Associate Professor
Department of English & Centre for Comparative Literature
Associate Director
MA English Program
cc Professor Cheryl Misak (Provost), Professor Meric Gertler (Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science), and Professor Neil ten Kortenaar (Director, Centre for Comparative Literature)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Julia Kristeva, Université Paris 7
A Monsieur le Président de l’Université de Toronto, Le Prof. Naylor
Monsieur le Président, Cher Collègue,
Je viens d'apprendre, à ma grande stupéfaction, que l'université de Toronto envisage la suppression de son Centre de littérature comparée. Je me permets de vous écrire cette lettre ouverte parce que mon association à ce Centre est de longue date. J'y suis venue la première fois en 1992 comme titulaire de la Norhrop Frye Professorship. Mon séminaire avait pour sujet «Proust et le temps sensible» et mes conférences sont à l'origine de mon livre, portant le même titre, qui parut l'année suivante. Par la suite, je suis revenue plusieurs fois en tant que Visiting Professor pour y faire les conférences qui ont abouti à deux autres livres de ma trilogie sur Le génie féminin : Hannah Arendt (1999) et Colette (2002). Enfin, en l'an 2000, j’ai eu l’honneur d’obtenir le titre de Docteur Honoris Causa de votre Université. Je suis convaincue que le rôle que Northrop Frye a joué dans les études littéraires, et plus largement dans la compréhension de la littérature comme mode de pensée spécifique (et non pas simplement comme loisir ou décor), nécessite une approche interdisciplinaire que les universitaires canadiens et la communauté scientifique internationale se doivent de développer et d'approfondir en sa mémoire.
Frye a ouvert une perspective de recherche qui est d'une brûlante actualité : la littérature au voisinage de l'esthétique (le sensible et le beau) et du besoin de croire (spiritualismes et religions). La littérature comparée à donc un rôle inattendu à assumer dans un siècle de heurts de religions.
L'Unesco a voté une convention pour la diversité culturelle que la France et le Canada ont inspirée et soutiennent activement. Cette politique qui se propose un nouveau contrat social pour la globalisation, basée sur l'interaction entre diversité -- contre la banalité comme « mal radical » (Arendt)- a besoin d'être étayée par des connaissances précises sur les langues et leurs expressions culturelles, et que la littérature comparée et les sciences humaines peuvent précisément développer et fournir.
Vous comprenez, Monsieur le Président, mon inquiétude devant les mesures administratives envisagées qui me paraissent brutales et à fort relent obscurantiste. J’espère de tout cœur que l’Université de Toronto n’acceptera pas cette recommandation de « dés-établir » son Centre de littérature comparée.
En vous remerciant de l’attention que vous voudriez bien porter à cette lettre,
Recevez, Monsieur le Président et Cher Collègue, l’expression de ma haute considération à de mes meilleures pensées,
Julia Kristeva
le 21 juillet 2010
Monsieur le Président, Cher Collègue,
Je viens d'apprendre, à ma grande stupéfaction, que l'université de Toronto envisage la suppression de son Centre de littérature comparée. Je me permets de vous écrire cette lettre ouverte parce que mon association à ce Centre est de longue date. J'y suis venue la première fois en 1992 comme titulaire de la Norhrop Frye Professorship. Mon séminaire avait pour sujet «Proust et le temps sensible» et mes conférences sont à l'origine de mon livre, portant le même titre, qui parut l'année suivante. Par la suite, je suis revenue plusieurs fois en tant que Visiting Professor pour y faire les conférences qui ont abouti à deux autres livres de ma trilogie sur Le génie féminin : Hannah Arendt (1999) et Colette (2002). Enfin, en l'an 2000, j’ai eu l’honneur d’obtenir le titre de Docteur Honoris Causa de votre Université. Je suis convaincue que le rôle que Northrop Frye a joué dans les études littéraires, et plus largement dans la compréhension de la littérature comme mode de pensée spécifique (et non pas simplement comme loisir ou décor), nécessite une approche interdisciplinaire que les universitaires canadiens et la communauté scientifique internationale se doivent de développer et d'approfondir en sa mémoire.
Frye a ouvert une perspective de recherche qui est d'une brûlante actualité : la littérature au voisinage de l'esthétique (le sensible et le beau) et du besoin de croire (spiritualismes et religions). La littérature comparée à donc un rôle inattendu à assumer dans un siècle de heurts de religions.
L'Unesco a voté une convention pour la diversité culturelle que la France et le Canada ont inspirée et soutiennent activement. Cette politique qui se propose un nouveau contrat social pour la globalisation, basée sur l'interaction entre diversité -- contre la banalité comme « mal radical » (Arendt)- a besoin d'être étayée par des connaissances précises sur les langues et leurs expressions culturelles, et que la littérature comparée et les sciences humaines peuvent précisément développer et fournir.
Vous comprenez, Monsieur le Président, mon inquiétude devant les mesures administratives envisagées qui me paraissent brutales et à fort relent obscurantiste. J’espère de tout cœur que l’Université de Toronto n’acceptera pas cette recommandation de « dés-établir » son Centre de littérature comparée.
En vous remerciant de l’attention que vous voudriez bien porter à cette lettre,
Recevez, Monsieur le Président et Cher Collègue, l’expression de ma haute considération à de mes meilleures pensées,
Julia Kristeva
le 21 juillet 2010
Jeannine Pitas, University of Toronto
July 21, 2010
President David Naylor
University of Toronto
Simcoe Hall, Room 2006
King’s College Circle
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1A1
Dear President Naylor:
You are currently receiving many letters protesting the Strategic Planning Committee’s proposed “disestablishment” of University of Toronto’s Centre for Comparative Literature; meanwhile, our petition has been signed by Margaret Atwood, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and more than 5,000 other concerned citizens from all over the world. There has been much discussion about the Centre’s international reputation, the legacy of its founder Northrop Frye, and its continued excellence in research and teaching. However, I write to you as someone who is personally affected by this proposal. As I begin my second year of the PhD, I am outraged that this excellent centre has been recommended for reduction to a collaborative program – essentially, a graduate minor in literary theory that will no longer permit the interdisciplinary work that makes comparative literature so important for the humanities.
My decision to move from the US to Canada and study at the Centre was the result of many years’ thought and deliberation. As an undergraduate I had the excellent fortune of studying at Sarah Lawrence College, which is known for its commitment to individualized and interdisciplinary study. While I mainly focused on English literature, I also studied Spanish, Polish and philosophy while taking some courses in the social sciences. To me, this multi-disciplinary approach to the humanities was the only one that made sense; rather than studying one narrow field in isolation, I was able to explore the relationships between different areas while focusing on specific topics in depth.
When my professors first urged me to pursue advanced study, I was interested but hesitant. I did not know which discipline to pursue- literature or philosophy? And if I were to choose literature, then should I focus on English or Spanish, or perhaps even Polish? When several of my teachers encouraged me to study comparative literature, I saw it as the ideal opportunity to continue the kind of work that I had begun. The task of writing academic papers (and ultimately a dissertation) would compel me to develop a focused area of specialization; however, I would also have the chance to retain my diverse academic interests and even develop some new ones.
As I began researching programs, U of T’s Centre for Comparative Literature immediately caught my attention as especially strong. And, when I began the MA in 2008, all my impressions were proved true. By this point I had chosen to focus on Latin American and Polish literature, and courses in those departments allowed me to increase my general knowledge of these areas. But, it was the courses offered by the Centre itself that really allowed me to explore the relationships between them while gaining a strong base in diverse philosophical and critical approaches.
What has impressed me most about the Centre, however, is its dedication to quality teaching and mentoring of students. From my first meeting with the Graduate Coordinator, I could see that the Centre’s faculty were truly dedicated to teaching. The guidance, encouragement and constructive criticism that I have received during my first two years here prove to me that our faculty genuinely care about their students’ academic growth and professional futures. Unfortunately, not all of my colleagues at other universities can say the same. And, this dedication on the part of the faculty is reflected in the students’ work. I am constantly impressed by my colleagues’ publications, conference presentations, awards, and let’s not forget, their teaching in various undergraduate programs across the humanities and social sciences. I am not surprised that even in this extremely competitive job market, the Centre’s graduates continue to find work.
I echo other international students when I say that I would not have come to the University of Toronto for any program other than this one. While U of T has many strong departments, the Centre for Comparative Literature offers opportunities for innovative scholarship that simply wouldn’t be possible elsewhere (and which will no longer be possible if it is reduced to a collaborative program). Having read the Strategic Planning Committee’s report, I cannot understand the rationale behind this recommendation. Before I applied to this program, professors various academic institutions assured me that comparative literature was a growing, evolving discipline and that the University of Toronto was an excellent place to pursue it. The signers of our petition –now more than 5,000 - clearly agree. And while we are not ignorant of budgetary concerns, the SPC has stated that they are also committed to maintaining and improving the overall quality of education in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. I fail to understand how this quality can be achieved when this distinguished Centre is lost.
Therefore, I ask that you please re-evaluate the SPC’s proposal and recognize that, contrary to what the report suggests, comparative literature is not a discipline that has already achieved its task; rather, our task is only growing. As the world continues to become more culturally diffuse, some nation states have met with much criticism for building up walls between political borders. The “disestablishment” of the Centre for Comparative Literature threatens to follow this pattern within the university. I assure you that the “new synergies” which Dean Gertler expects to come out of the proposed School of Languages and Literatures will be inconsequential when weighed against the loss of our Centre, which currently serves as a meeting place for national languages and literatures as well as cultural studies, philosophy, sociology, political science, visual arts and more. Our tasks may be changing, but these changes make our discipline more relevant than ever. I hope that you will concur.
Sincerely,
Jeannine M. Pitas
PhD Student
Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
CC: President David Naylor, University of Toronto
Provost Cheryl Misak, University of Toronto
Dean Meric Gertler, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Vice-Dean Robert Baker, Research and Graduate Programs, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Vice-Dean Stephen Rupp, Faculty and Academic Life, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Dr. Neil ten Kortenaar, Director, Centre for Comparative Literature
Dr. Jill Ross, Graduate Coordinator, Centre for Comparative Literature
Graduate Students of the Centre for Comparative Literature
Save Comparative Literature Campaign
President David Naylor
University of Toronto
Simcoe Hall, Room 2006
King’s College Circle
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1A1
Dear President Naylor:
You are currently receiving many letters protesting the Strategic Planning Committee’s proposed “disestablishment” of University of Toronto’s Centre for Comparative Literature; meanwhile, our petition has been signed by Margaret Atwood, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and more than 5,000 other concerned citizens from all over the world. There has been much discussion about the Centre’s international reputation, the legacy of its founder Northrop Frye, and its continued excellence in research and teaching. However, I write to you as someone who is personally affected by this proposal. As I begin my second year of the PhD, I am outraged that this excellent centre has been recommended for reduction to a collaborative program – essentially, a graduate minor in literary theory that will no longer permit the interdisciplinary work that makes comparative literature so important for the humanities.
My decision to move from the US to Canada and study at the Centre was the result of many years’ thought and deliberation. As an undergraduate I had the excellent fortune of studying at Sarah Lawrence College, which is known for its commitment to individualized and interdisciplinary study. While I mainly focused on English literature, I also studied Spanish, Polish and philosophy while taking some courses in the social sciences. To me, this multi-disciplinary approach to the humanities was the only one that made sense; rather than studying one narrow field in isolation, I was able to explore the relationships between different areas while focusing on specific topics in depth.
When my professors first urged me to pursue advanced study, I was interested but hesitant. I did not know which discipline to pursue- literature or philosophy? And if I were to choose literature, then should I focus on English or Spanish, or perhaps even Polish? When several of my teachers encouraged me to study comparative literature, I saw it as the ideal opportunity to continue the kind of work that I had begun. The task of writing academic papers (and ultimately a dissertation) would compel me to develop a focused area of specialization; however, I would also have the chance to retain my diverse academic interests and even develop some new ones.
As I began researching programs, U of T’s Centre for Comparative Literature immediately caught my attention as especially strong. And, when I began the MA in 2008, all my impressions were proved true. By this point I had chosen to focus on Latin American and Polish literature, and courses in those departments allowed me to increase my general knowledge of these areas. But, it was the courses offered by the Centre itself that really allowed me to explore the relationships between them while gaining a strong base in diverse philosophical and critical approaches.
What has impressed me most about the Centre, however, is its dedication to quality teaching and mentoring of students. From my first meeting with the Graduate Coordinator, I could see that the Centre’s faculty were truly dedicated to teaching. The guidance, encouragement and constructive criticism that I have received during my first two years here prove to me that our faculty genuinely care about their students’ academic growth and professional futures. Unfortunately, not all of my colleagues at other universities can say the same. And, this dedication on the part of the faculty is reflected in the students’ work. I am constantly impressed by my colleagues’ publications, conference presentations, awards, and let’s not forget, their teaching in various undergraduate programs across the humanities and social sciences. I am not surprised that even in this extremely competitive job market, the Centre’s graduates continue to find work.
I echo other international students when I say that I would not have come to the University of Toronto for any program other than this one. While U of T has many strong departments, the Centre for Comparative Literature offers opportunities for innovative scholarship that simply wouldn’t be possible elsewhere (and which will no longer be possible if it is reduced to a collaborative program). Having read the Strategic Planning Committee’s report, I cannot understand the rationale behind this recommendation. Before I applied to this program, professors various academic institutions assured me that comparative literature was a growing, evolving discipline and that the University of Toronto was an excellent place to pursue it. The signers of our petition –now more than 5,000 - clearly agree. And while we are not ignorant of budgetary concerns, the SPC has stated that they are also committed to maintaining and improving the overall quality of education in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. I fail to understand how this quality can be achieved when this distinguished Centre is lost.
Therefore, I ask that you please re-evaluate the SPC’s proposal and recognize that, contrary to what the report suggests, comparative literature is not a discipline that has already achieved its task; rather, our task is only growing. As the world continues to become more culturally diffuse, some nation states have met with much criticism for building up walls between political borders. The “disestablishment” of the Centre for Comparative Literature threatens to follow this pattern within the university. I assure you that the “new synergies” which Dean Gertler expects to come out of the proposed School of Languages and Literatures will be inconsequential when weighed against the loss of our Centre, which currently serves as a meeting place for national languages and literatures as well as cultural studies, philosophy, sociology, political science, visual arts and more. Our tasks may be changing, but these changes make our discipline more relevant than ever. I hope that you will concur.
Sincerely,
Jeannine M. Pitas
PhD Student
Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
CC: President David Naylor, University of Toronto
Provost Cheryl Misak, University of Toronto
Dean Meric Gertler, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Vice-Dean Robert Baker, Research and Graduate Programs, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Vice-Dean Stephen Rupp, Faculty and Academic Life, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Dr. Neil ten Kortenaar, Director, Centre for Comparative Literature
Dr. Jill Ross, Graduate Coordinator, Centre for Comparative Literature
Graduate Students of the Centre for Comparative Literature
Save Comparative Literature Campaign
Myra Bloom, University of Toronto
Dear President Naylor, Provost Misak, and Dean Gertler,
I am writing to you from Madrid, where I am currently spending a month studying Spanish with my friend and colleague from the Centre for Comparative Literature. The sadness and lack of understanding I feel faced with the potential dissolution of our Centre is magnified given my geographical distance from the epicentre of the decision-making process. Having undertaken this trip in the pursuit of knowledge that will aid me in my studies, I am now confronted with the prospect that upon my return, there very well may be no institutional backing for the work that I do.
The merits of our world-renowned graduate conference, international reputation, and acclaimed students and faculty, have been reiterated over the past several weeks. I am heartened by the support that has been shown in the media, by luminaries in the field, as well as by concerned students and members of the larger university community. At the same time, I am dismayed that the accomplishments of the Centre are being thrown into relief against the grim backdrop of its potential dissolution. Nobody will deny that these are difficult times and certain sacrifices need to be made. Nevertheless, at such times it is likewise true that rigorous intellectual work must more than ever be protected from the forces that would attempt to reduce critical thought to a price tag.
It is deeply worrying that the University of Toronto, which prides itself on its commitment to academic excellence, is revealing itself to be so short-sighted as to dismantle the very assets that safeguard it from becoming a bastion of scholarly conservatism. Smaller, less established institutions such as York and Ryerson rightly pride themselves on their forward-thinking interdisciplinary programmes. Up until this point I have been proud to remind my colleagues at these esteemed institutions that the University of Toronto is also adapting itself to the changing face of contemporary scholarship, promoting interdisciplinary approaches to the study of literature, ethics, and diasporic identities, to name but a selection. I am disappointed and embarrassed to have to concede that my optimism has been misplaced, that the progressive tendencies that were at long last beginning to manifest themselves are being quashed in an epic purge that will re-establish, once and for all, U of T’s fraternity with the right side of the political spectrum. The chimaeric School of Languages and Literatures, the university’s official rhetoric notwithstanding, is not a viable substitute for real interdisciplinarity. While it is true that amalgamation is sometimes an effective cost-saving measure, it is impossible to argue that the administrative savings the university will enjoy can have any effect whatsoever on the nature or calibre of scholarly output.
Lastly, I would like to express my incredulity that ‘too much success’ is the rhetoric being bandied about as a potential justification for the department’s redundancy. If it is the case that the success of the methodologies of a given discipline enjoin its dissolution, I propose that U of T extend this rhetoric across the board: we can cut computer science based on the success of DIY internet applications such as YouTube and Facebook; we can save several billion dollars by eliminating the medical school, as overpopulation belies the excesses of medical science; the Classics department can likewise shut its doors as the Latin language is being safeguarded by biology, botany, as well as the mysteriously untouchable Centre for Medieval Studies.
The value of a graduate department must not be measured by the same utilitarian calculus that determines how many goldfish the university can afford to shelter in the calm ponds of Massey College. Rather, it must be assessed in terms of the work its students and faculty do to promote critical thinking within the university and in an increasingly-interconnected global scholarly community. I strongly urge you to return to the proverbial drawing board and draft a long-term plan that does justice to the mandate of the University of Toronto.
Yours sincerely,
Myra D Bloom
PhD Candidate, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholar, Doctoral
I am writing to you from Madrid, where I am currently spending a month studying Spanish with my friend and colleague from the Centre for Comparative Literature. The sadness and lack of understanding I feel faced with the potential dissolution of our Centre is magnified given my geographical distance from the epicentre of the decision-making process. Having undertaken this trip in the pursuit of knowledge that will aid me in my studies, I am now confronted with the prospect that upon my return, there very well may be no institutional backing for the work that I do.
The merits of our world-renowned graduate conference, international reputation, and acclaimed students and faculty, have been reiterated over the past several weeks. I am heartened by the support that has been shown in the media, by luminaries in the field, as well as by concerned students and members of the larger university community. At the same time, I am dismayed that the accomplishments of the Centre are being thrown into relief against the grim backdrop of its potential dissolution. Nobody will deny that these are difficult times and certain sacrifices need to be made. Nevertheless, at such times it is likewise true that rigorous intellectual work must more than ever be protected from the forces that would attempt to reduce critical thought to a price tag.
It is deeply worrying that the University of Toronto, which prides itself on its commitment to academic excellence, is revealing itself to be so short-sighted as to dismantle the very assets that safeguard it from becoming a bastion of scholarly conservatism. Smaller, less established institutions such as York and Ryerson rightly pride themselves on their forward-thinking interdisciplinary programmes. Up until this point I have been proud to remind my colleagues at these esteemed institutions that the University of Toronto is also adapting itself to the changing face of contemporary scholarship, promoting interdisciplinary approaches to the study of literature, ethics, and diasporic identities, to name but a selection. I am disappointed and embarrassed to have to concede that my optimism has been misplaced, that the progressive tendencies that were at long last beginning to manifest themselves are being quashed in an epic purge that will re-establish, once and for all, U of T’s fraternity with the right side of the political spectrum. The chimaeric School of Languages and Literatures, the university’s official rhetoric notwithstanding, is not a viable substitute for real interdisciplinarity. While it is true that amalgamation is sometimes an effective cost-saving measure, it is impossible to argue that the administrative savings the university will enjoy can have any effect whatsoever on the nature or calibre of scholarly output.
Lastly, I would like to express my incredulity that ‘too much success’ is the rhetoric being bandied about as a potential justification for the department’s redundancy. If it is the case that the success of the methodologies of a given discipline enjoin its dissolution, I propose that U of T extend this rhetoric across the board: we can cut computer science based on the success of DIY internet applications such as YouTube and Facebook; we can save several billion dollars by eliminating the medical school, as overpopulation belies the excesses of medical science; the Classics department can likewise shut its doors as the Latin language is being safeguarded by biology, botany, as well as the mysteriously untouchable Centre for Medieval Studies.
The value of a graduate department must not be measured by the same utilitarian calculus that determines how many goldfish the university can afford to shelter in the calm ponds of Massey College. Rather, it must be assessed in terms of the work its students and faculty do to promote critical thinking within the university and in an increasingly-interconnected global scholarly community. I strongly urge you to return to the proverbial drawing board and draft a long-term plan that does justice to the mandate of the University of Toronto.
Yours sincerely,
Myra D Bloom
PhD Candidate, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholar, Doctoral
SSHRC-winning students of the Centre to the President of SSHRC
Dear Dr. Chad Gaffield:
We write to you as recipients of funding from the Social Science Humanities Research Council to ask for your support once again. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Toronto has announced the “disestablishment” of the Centre for Comparative Literature.
As you might have seen, this story has found its way into the media and recently appeared on the front page of the Globe and Mail (July 13, 2010). Likewise, Noreen Golfman, President of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, has protested the decision (see attached letter). As well, the petition to Save Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto has nearly 5,200 signatures from academics and concerned citizens around the world.
As recipients of SSHRC, we are requesting that the Social Science and Humanities Research Council join us in protesting the recommendation of the Dean of Arts and Sciences. The closure of the Centre for Comparative Literature will be detrimental to research in the humanities and social sciences at the University of Toronto and will also affect scholars across Canada and around the world. All of us write to you as well to inform you that our research could only take place at the Centre for Comparative Literature. The possibility to complete our research – the research funded by SSHRC – is being threatened by the decisions of the Dean of Arts and Sciences.
Yours truly,
Jonathan A. Allan
SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Myra Bloom
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholar, Doctoral
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Natalie Bosco
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholar, Master’s
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Ryan Culpepper
Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Julie Parisien
SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Lukasz Wodzynski
SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
CC: President David Naylor, University of Toronto
Provost Cheryl Misak, University of Toronto
Dean Meric Gertler, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Dean Brian Corman, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto
Vice-Dean Robert Baker, Research and Graduate Programs, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Dr. Neil ten Kortenaar, Director, Centre for Comparative Literature
Dr. Jill Ross, Graduate Coordinator, Centre for Comparative Literature
Noreen Golfman, President of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Save Comparative Literature Campaign
We write to you as recipients of funding from the Social Science Humanities Research Council to ask for your support once again. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Toronto has announced the “disestablishment” of the Centre for Comparative Literature.
As you might have seen, this story has found its way into the media and recently appeared on the front page of the Globe and Mail (July 13, 2010). Likewise, Noreen Golfman, President of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, has protested the decision (see attached letter). As well, the petition to Save Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto has nearly 5,200 signatures from academics and concerned citizens around the world.
As recipients of SSHRC, we are requesting that the Social Science and Humanities Research Council join us in protesting the recommendation of the Dean of Arts and Sciences. The closure of the Centre for Comparative Literature will be detrimental to research in the humanities and social sciences at the University of Toronto and will also affect scholars across Canada and around the world. All of us write to you as well to inform you that our research could only take place at the Centre for Comparative Literature. The possibility to complete our research – the research funded by SSHRC – is being threatened by the decisions of the Dean of Arts and Sciences.
Yours truly,
Jonathan A. Allan
SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Myra Bloom
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholar, Doctoral
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Natalie Bosco
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholar, Master’s
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Ryan Culpepper
Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Julie Parisien
SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
Lukasz Wodzynski
SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto, Canada
CC: President David Naylor, University of Toronto
Provost Cheryl Misak, University of Toronto
Dean Meric Gertler, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Dean Brian Corman, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto
Vice-Dean Robert Baker, Research and Graduate Programs, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
Dr. Neil ten Kortenaar, Director, Centre for Comparative Literature
Dr. Jill Ross, Graduate Coordinator, Centre for Comparative Literature
Noreen Golfman, President of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Save Comparative Literature Campaign
Rachel F. Stapleton, University of Toronto; follow-up letter to Dean Gertler
Dear Dean Gertler,
I am writing to you today to follow up on my letter of July 15th to President Naylor (attached below) in which I expressed both my concern and dismay at the plan proposed by the Strategic Planning Committee that will see the disestablishment of the Centre for Comparative Literature—my academic home at the University of Toronto.
When I chose to leave my career to pursue graduate studies, it was a very difficult decision. While it was always something I had had in mind to do, the practicalities of leaving a steady and comfortable income for a much lower wage was difficult—Toronto has never been a cheap place to live! However, the actual intellectual decision was surprisingly easy: at the Centre for Comparative Literature, I was being offered the opportunity to push my horizons, to engage with my love of languages in ways that neither my career (which had no use for Latin) nor any other department (the Spanish department has little use for English or French, nor does the English department for Spanish) would allow me to do, as well as joining a community of scholars whose diversity of interests and engaging minds continue to astound me to this day.
While I imagine you must be extremely busy working out all the details of these proposals, I nevertheless look forward to your prompt response to both this letter and my earlier letter of concern to President Naylor, which he was kind enough to forward to you on July 16th.
Sincerely,
Rachel F. Stapleton
Ph.D. Student
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto
I am writing to you today to follow up on my letter of July 15th to President Naylor (attached below) in which I expressed both my concern and dismay at the plan proposed by the Strategic Planning Committee that will see the disestablishment of the Centre for Comparative Literature—my academic home at the University of Toronto.
When I chose to leave my career to pursue graduate studies, it was a very difficult decision. While it was always something I had had in mind to do, the practicalities of leaving a steady and comfortable income for a much lower wage was difficult—Toronto has never been a cheap place to live! However, the actual intellectual decision was surprisingly easy: at the Centre for Comparative Literature, I was being offered the opportunity to push my horizons, to engage with my love of languages in ways that neither my career (which had no use for Latin) nor any other department (the Spanish department has little use for English or French, nor does the English department for Spanish) would allow me to do, as well as joining a community of scholars whose diversity of interests and engaging minds continue to astound me to this day.
While I imagine you must be extremely busy working out all the details of these proposals, I nevertheless look forward to your prompt response to both this letter and my earlier letter of concern to President Naylor, which he was kind enough to forward to you on July 16th.
Sincerely,
Rachel F. Stapleton
Ph.D. Student
Centre for Comparative Literature
University of Toronto
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