New Delhi: Fears that the University of Chicago’s South Asian Languages and Civilizations department may discontinue several language courses as part of a larger cost-cutting measure have raised alarm bells among students and faculty. Anticipating this move, 168 alumni, current students, and former professors have signed an open letter to the university to protest the “possible discontinuation of several language courses.”
Scholars such as AK Ramanujan, Sheldon Pollock, Wendy Doniger, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Arshia Sattar, Daisy Rockwell — who translated Geetanjali Shree’s Ret Samadhi (Tomb of Sand), Muzaffar Alam, Bernard Cohn, Philip Lutgendorf, are some of the known names associated with the South Asian Languages and Civilizations department (SALC).
Marathi and Tamil language courses were “paused” this year. Now there are concerns that Bangla, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu, and Tibetan courses may be stopped due to low enrollment.
“We are especially concerned about the possible impact of restructuring on the offerings in South Asian languages. It is impossible to gain cultural competence in a region without developing proficiency in its languages,” read the open letter addressed to Deborah Nelson, Dean, Division of Arts and Humanities, Provost Katherine Baicker, and University President Paul Alivisatos. It reiterated the SALC’s growing importance as a resource, given the global significance of South Asia.
“Terminating language instruction or relocating it outside the department would sever a crucial connection with the broader research mission of SALC,” it added.
So far, no decision has been taken, but the Dean of the university’s Arts and Humanities Division had asked for recommendations on ‘structural cuts’ from five ad-hoc committees. The deadline is 22 August. This comes in the backdrop of reports of “substantial restructuring” due to financial strain under the Trump administration.
“Nothing has been formally proposed,” the head of the department, Professor Rochona Majumdar, said in an email to ThePrint.
Also read: Going after campuses is the toolkit of Trump, Netanyahu, Modi. Columbia University is latest
Cost-cutting, restructuring
The signatories have demanded that the SALC be retained as an independent department, with its undergraduate and graduate programmes intact. They also want the university to ensure that advanced courses in South Asian languages are taught by full-time faculty.
“The kind of language training you get in the university is nowhere to be found globally. The language studies helped scholars to read and teach Indian languages, and then use them to write about society, culture, and history”, said Ananya Vajpeyi, a former student of SALC.
Established in 1966, the SALC is the leading department of its kind in North America. The language courses programme has focused on the comprehensive humanistic study of the South Asian region by offering language courses in classical languages as well as modern languages.
as per the the university’s website, for more than 60 years, the department, has paved the way for the development of South Asian studies. The SALC has conducted groundbreaking research in languages that may not have been done in India, said the open letter.
In June, the faculty of the University of Chicago received an email announcing the reduction of the total number of departments from 15 to eight in the Arts and Humanities division. According to a report, Dean Deborah Nelson directed the formation of five advisory committees that would identify areas to reduce spending.
The University of Chicago’s move to bring changes reportedly came after the Donald Trump administration increased scrutiny of colleges and universities across the country.
One less source of snakes polluting the Ganga?
Not just Chicago, all other US and UK universities should close their South Asia programs/departments.
These are the centres of indoctrination where young impressionable minds are brainwashed and turned into Hinduphobic and Indophobic individuals. It is from these centres of “learning” that “scholars” such as Audrey Truschke graduate – the ones who refer to Lord Rama as a “misogynist pig”.
This is a very tightly knit community of Hindu/India haters – ones who pat each other’s backs and promote each other’s “scholarship”. The sooner such departments are closed down, the better off the world will be.
Great news indeed!
Earnestly hope that the South Asian Languages and Civilizations department at University of Chicago closes down completely.
People like Wendy Doniger and Sheldon Pollock are agenda-driven ‘intellectuals’ out to dehumanize and delegitimize Indian history and civilization. Hindus, Buddhists and Jains are their specific targets. The University of Chicage has always been a hub of anti-India. more specifically anti-Hindu/Buddhist/Jain, academics. These are the very same individuals who give Pakistan/Bangladesh a a free pass while India accountable for minority persecution. They don’t speak a word on Islamism and jihadi terrorism. Neither do they condemn the anti-Hindu pogroms and other atrocities in Pakistan/Bangladesh.
But when India enacted the CAA and the NRC was carried out in Assam, these very same academics were on the streets decrying India and defaming it as “fascist”, “majoritarian” and what not.