Vote looms on Am Lit's future

Author: Daniel L. J. Phillips

The Faculty Council completed the third and final open meeting on Tuesday to discuss an Educational Affairs Committee (EAC) proposal that would establish a department and major in English and American Literature and a new interdisciplinary program and major in American Studies. At its next meeting in early November, the Faculty Council will vote solely on the curricular issue of combining the two literature departments and creating a new program in American Studies.

The EAC proposal recommends that the existing major in American Literature remain in place until students in the Class of 2009 who have declared that major graduate, at which time the major would no longer be offered.

It was clarified at the meetings that the EAC endorsement does not come with staffing expectations, and that the EAC would allow faculty members to choose their new department under the suggested structure.

The proposal initially resulted from discussions that began in 2003 within the existing Departments of English and American Literature and Civilization. Meanwhile, the EAC has looked at course offerings in literature and American Studies at comparable institutions, including Amherst, Wesleyan and Williams. The Student Educational Affairs Committee (SEAC) twice circulated a questionnaire to all literature majors in both departments, and has expressed unanimous support for the proposed changes.

The proposal to integrate the two literature departments presents four main changes to the current curriculum. The proposed requirements for the new major would be a minimum of 12 courses, as opposed to the minimum of 11 courses for a current English major. Two of the 12 courses required for the new major would have to be in American literature - while the present structure allows up to two American Literature credits to count for the English major, students are not bound to take any minimum number of American offerings. The required course, ENGL 0103 Reading Literature, would be replaced by ENAM 0103, which would expand its focus to concern British, American and post-colonial literature. Lastly, the Senior Comprehensive Exam taken during J-Term of senior year in the new major would cover British, American and post-colonial texts, as opposed to only English authors as under the current program.

Contained within the EAC proposal was a draft of the impending course catalogue entry for the new major, which outlines that students will still be expected to complete literature courses in all of the major genres - fiction, drama and poetry - and must also study literary theory and criticism adhering to the current requirement.

The new interdisciplinary program of American Studies would require a minimum of 12 courses, including at least two introductory courses before junior year; three electives at the 200-level; junior and senior seminars; and an honors thesis or one-semester essay. Introductory course offerings would include two sections on the Formulation of Early American Culture, covering the years 1492-1913, and the Formulation of Modern American Culture, 1920-2000. The electives would be cross-listed with other departments, but at least one must focus on the period prior to 1865.

Students would also have the opportunity, upon program approval, to concentrate in the following areas: Artistic and Intellectual Traditions; Race and Ethnicity; Space and Place; Popular Culture; Cultural Politics; or a self-designed focus.

In their Substitute Motion refuting the EAC, Professor of Humanities John McWilliams and Fulton Professor of American Literature Stephen Donadio do not take a position regarding the composition of the proposed American Studies program. The Substitute Motion notes that the American Literature department had existed for more than 50 years before the decision was made in 1981 to incorporate the American Civilization program as a combined department with two separate majors.

The main objections to the abandonment of the current structure in the Substitute Motion are that "course offerings in American literature will become unpredictable, and the requirement of majors to study American literature minimal." During the meetings Donadio emphasized that there have been "procedural and ethical improprieties" in the way this proposal came about, and warned the audience, "You are living with the consequences of this precedent."

At both the Oct. 17 and Oct. 25 meetings, Stewart Professor of English and Environmental Studies John Elder urged the faculty to consider the decision as part of a "democratic process." While Elder thought it appropriate that the entire faculty vote on the proposal, he said the College community must follow up the decision with more conversation that will consider "where we might go together."

Program Director for American Civilization Holly Allen said at the meetings that she has been impressed by offerings in other departments concerning Americanist topics. She feels that such a "broadly interdisciplinary" program like the American Studies endorsement will take advantage of many existing curricular strengths.

As one of the most common means for supporting the proposal, the English Department acknowledged at the open meetings that current literature students are having difficulty competing for admission to graduate programs because of the curriculum's narrow focus. The current course catalog for the English department contains a paragraph to that nature beneath the major requirements, stating that "students who plan on attending graduate school in literature are advised to include at least a broad representation of American literature in their course selections." The English department strongly advises the two courses covering American authors spanning from 1830-1940, which include Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Henry James, T. S. Eliot, Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Faulkner, among others.