Dear President Naylor, Provost Misak, and Dean Gertler,
I am writing to you from Madrid, where I am currently spending a month
studying Spanish with my friend and colleague from the Centre for
Comparative Literature. The sadness and lack of understanding I feel
faced with the potential dissolution of our Centre is magnified given
my geographical distance from the epicentre of the decision-making
process. Having undertaken this trip in the pursuit of knowledge that
will aid me in my studies, I am now confronted with the prospect that
upon my return, there very well may be no institutional backing for
the work that I do.
The merits of our world-renowned graduate conference, international
reputation, and acclaimed students and faculty, have been reiterated
over the past several weeks. I am heartened by the support that has been shown in the media, by
luminaries in the field, as well as by concerned students and members
of the larger university community. At the same time, I am dismayed
that the accomplishments of the Centre are being thrown into relief
against the grim backdrop of its potential dissolution. Nobody will
deny that these are difficult times and certain sacrifices need to be
made. Nevertheless, at such times it is likewise true that rigorous
intellectual work must more than ever be protected from the forces
that would attempt to reduce critical thought to a price tag.
It is deeply worrying that the University of Toronto, which prides
itself on its commitment to academic excellence, is revealing itself
to be so short-sighted as to dismantle the very assets that safeguard
it from becoming a bastion of scholarly conservatism. Smaller, less
established institutions such as York and Ryerson rightly pride
themselves on their forward-thinking interdisciplinary programmes. Up
until this point I have been proud to remind my colleagues at these
esteemed institutions that the University of Toronto is also adapting
itself to the changing face of contemporary scholarship, promoting
interdisciplinary approaches to the study of literature, ethics, and
diasporic identities, to name but a selection. I am disappointed and
embarrassed to have to concede that my optimism has been misplaced,
that the progressive tendencies that were at long last beginning to
manifest themselves are being quashed in an epic purge that will
re-establish, once and for all, U of T’s fraternity with the right
side of the political spectrum. The chimaeric School of Languages and
Literatures, the university’s official rhetoric notwithstanding, is
not a viable substitute for real interdisciplinarity. While it is true
that amalgamation is sometimes an effective cost-saving measure, it is
impossible to argue that the administrative savings the university
will enjoy can have any effect whatsoever on the nature or calibre of
scholarly output.
Lastly, I would like to express my incredulity that ‘too much success’
is the rhetoric being bandied about as a potential justification for
the department’s redundancy. If it is the case that the success of the
methodologies of a given discipline enjoin its dissolution, I propose
that U of T extend this rhetoric across the board: we can cut computer
science based on the success of DIY internet applications such as
YouTube and Facebook; we can save several billion dollars by
eliminating the medical school, as overpopulation belies the excesses
of medical science; the Classics department can likewise shut its
doors as the Latin language is being safeguarded by biology, botany,
as well as the mysteriously untouchable Centre for Medieval Studies.
The value of a graduate department must not be measured by the same
utilitarian calculus that determines how many goldfish the university
can afford to shelter in the calm ponds of Massey College. Rather, it
must be assessed in terms of the work its students and faculty do to
promote critical thinking within the university and in an
increasingly-interconnected global scholarly community. I strongly
urge you to return to the proverbial drawing board and draft a
long-term plan that does justice to the mandate of the University of
Toronto.
Yours sincerely,
Myra D Bloom
PhD Candidate, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholar, Doctoral
