Humanities Professors Uncertain About FAS 'Reshaping'

Some humanities professors are concerned about what the administration’s “reshaping” might mean for the future of the University’s academic organization and resources.

As the process gets under way, professors could only speculate, but said that they are focused on preserving the autonomy of the University’s small departments, maintaining the size of its faculty, and ensuring the well-being of its libraries.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith recently appointed six working groups to oversee what he has called the “reshaping” of different sections of FAS, which is set to run an annual deficit of over $143 million that administrators hope to close by July 2011. According to University President Drew G. Faust, the purpose of the working groups is to come up with ideas for “structural changes,” which could include “better ways of sharing” administrative duties.

A humanities faculty member, who requested anonymity because the names have not been announced yet, said that the faculty members of the humanities working group are Homi Bhabha, James Engell, Anne C. Shreffler, Thomas B. F. Cummins, Jan M. Ziolkowski, and Humanities Divisional Dean Diana Sorensen, who will chair the working group.

Stephanie Sandler, the chair of the Slavic Department, said that she is concerned that “reshaping” might mean merging smaller departments, which would come at the cost of “closer relationships with students, smaller classes, a greater sense of cohesion among faculty, and shared intellectual projects.”

Sanskrit and Indian Studies Department chair Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp said that his department should be spared further cuts because it is “already bare bones,” with just one staff member and one tenured professor in the department itself. He said that about a decade ago a proposed merger between Sanskrit and East Asian Languages and Civilizations was rejected because there was “no intellectual rationale.”

English professor Daniel G. Donoghue cautioned against a merger of English and Celtic because he believes that the Celtic department might disappear within English, though he said that mergers in the style of the Romance Languages and Literatures Department might be a workable alternative.

But other professors saw exciting opportunities in combining departments.

English professor Gordon Teskey said that while he does not have a grasp of administrative details, he believes that larger departments can be “intellectually enlivening” for faculty.

Former Dean of the Faculty and Professor of China Studies William C. Kirby agreed. “This is the moment to think creatively about how historically independent departments may interact or merge with other academic units,” he said. “That could be a source of really powerful intellectual collaboration.”

English professor Louis Menand said that while the administration can only fire faculty members by closing departments, he has not heard it being discussed and does not believe that the administration needs to change its departmental structure.

He said that FAS administrators might instead decide not to replace retiring professors. “The only way to save money at the level they need to, is to not hire replacement faculty for faculty who leave,” he said. “One full-time senior faculty member costs a lot of money.”

Donoghue said he hopes that such a scenario does not play out.

“There is room for innovative changes in administration,” he said. “I don’t think Harvard is oversupplied in its faculty. I don’t think anyone is seriously talking about cutting the number of faculty.”

Besides the reshaping of the Faculty, humanities professors universally said they are worried about the budget of the University’s libraries.

Donoghue acknowledged that the library has a large budget, but said that because costs are increasing, book acquisition is suffering. “Harvard is called Harvard,” Donoghue said, “because John Harvard gave his library.”

—Bonnie Kavoussi contributed to the reporting of this story —Staff writer Alex M. McLeese can be reached at amcleese@fas.harvard.edu