Save RHUL Classics

I'm going to go into masses of detail, since I don't have all the information to hand, but I feel it is worth mentioning.

On Monday (27th) Royal Holloway announced it would essentially be cutting the Department of Classics and Philosophy. An official statement was released by the Head of Department, Anne Sheppard.

Proposals for cuts affecting the Department of Classics and Philosophy at Royal Holloway

The College Council are setting up a formal consultation process over proposals for the following cuts affecting the Department of Classics and Philosophy:

1. From September 2012 student numbers will be reduced to 40 per year, for BAs in Classical Studies and Ancient History as well as Joint Honours. The Classics degree will be discontinued.

2. The Philosophy staff, including one Ancient Philosophy post, will move to the Department of Politics and International Relations.

3. A Research Professor, currently shared with English, will move into the English Department.

4. Of the remaining 11 posts, 6 will disappear by 2014, leaving 5 staff who will then move, as a unit, to the History Department.

The consultation, which has not yet started, will run for 90 days. The Department will be responding fully to the planning documents that are to be circulated.

Letters of support will be very welcome. These should be addressed to the Principal, Prof. Paul Layzell, but should be sent in the first instance NOT directly to him but to the Department, so that we can collect them to use as we see fit.

Mary Beard writes more about the cuts in this article.

I'm not directly affected by the cuts, but several of my friends are. I also studied Classics at A Level and at one point was considering applying to study it at university.

The thing that really gets me about this is that Royal Holloway is a university with a strong background in the arts - and yes, Classics is covered by the Faculty of Arts. This was one of the overriding reasons for my choosing to attend the University (to study Drama). I wanted to study somewhere which valued my chosen field.

However, it would appear from these cuts that the Arts are no longer held in such high esteem. In the light of the £9000 fees, there seems to be a feeling that it is better to monetize on the more profitable courses, such as Management. Management, which is currently enjoying a £3 million extension. That, I feel speaks volumes.

A final point: Only 17 institutions in this country, including Royal Holloway, currently offer degrees in Classics. However, if your chosen path was Management, you'd be spoilt for choice with 89 different institutions offering courses. To quote from Mary Beard's article above "you cant do the cultural history of the West WITHOUT Classics -- or if you do, you make some ghastly errors" - and yet Classics as a subject is facing extinction and Royal Holloway are doing nothing but speeding it on it's way.

If you wish to support the Department of Classics and Philosophy, please look at the following links for information.

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