Faculty debates future of American Lit at Midd Department divided over merger

Author: Mallory Falk

On the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 10, Middlebury College faculty members met at Kirk Alumni Conference Center for the first of three open meetings scheduled this month to discuss the future of the American Literature and Civilization Department, which may merge with the English Department in 2010 under a proposal by the Educational Affairs Committee (EAC). Under the EAC motion put forward in 2003, the American Literature and Civilization Department - currently comprised of two different fields, American Literature and American Civilization - would be divided, creating a separate department of American Studies and a combined English and American Literature major. Professor of Humanities John McWilliams and Fulton Professor of American Literature Stephen Donadio took the podium to argue for the preservation of their department.

The meeting brought a close to a two-year-long process of departmental review, beginning with a brief history of the American Literature and Civilization department and the proposal to dismantle it. Established in 1928, noted McWilliams and Donadio, the department was the first of its kind: a forum for students to study American literature in depth, apart from British and Anglophone works. A civilization major was later added in 1981, giving the Department its present structure. Presently, Middlebury is the only American institution to offer a major in American Literature.

A majority of the College's literature professors are in favor of eliminating the departmental divide and merging the two disciplines into one unified literature major. This restructuring of the current curriculum is supported not only by most English and American Literature faculty members, but also by the EAC. On Monday, several EAC representatives spoke on behalf of the proposal. Citing the benefits of a departmental union and stressing the result of faculty votes, EAC members encouraged the faculty at hand to support the proposed change. Members of the departments in question made the case for integration as well. Stewart Professor of English and Environmental Studies John Elder called the merge "natural and standard." Other speakers suggested that a joint English and American Literature major would provide students with a sounder understanding of literary works. The EAC proposal in support states: "Students will receive a more comprehensive and internationalist view of the history of Literature in English."

McWilliams and Donadio, however, argued that placing American Literature within the English department would prove destructive and infective. "Why abandon a department and a major that are unique to Middlebury and that have served the College with evident distinction for 80 years?" wrote the two faculty members in their substitute motion to maintain the department and major of American Literature. "I assure you, [if the departments merge], the number of [American texts in the curriculum]...will be reduced," McWilliams said. A student could graduate without "hearing a word" of Emerson, Dickenson or Faulkner.

The remaining meetings will take place next Monday, Oct. 17 in John McCardell Bicentennial Hall and Tuesday, Oct. 25 in Mitchell Green Lounge. A decisive faculty vote on the EAC proposal will take place in November.