Cut depts. blast SAS

Though the Religious Studies department survived the threat of being shut down last week, the pinch of School and Arts and Sciences cutbacks is still being felt in the Regional Sciences and American Civilization departments -- which will be disbanded effective June 30. The cut departments will be transformed into inter-departmental "programs," SAS Dean Rosemary Stevens said in September. But Department of Regional Science Chairperson Stephen Gale said he has not heard anything from SAS about the future of Regional Science as a program. "The only thing they've done is measured our offices to give them away to someone else," he said. Department of American Civilization Undergraduate Chairperson Melvyn Hammarberg said he would still prefer a department for Am. Civ. over a program. "A department has many more powers than a program," he said. "In terms of directing, [a program] does not have its own curriculum, its support staff and its faculty." Gale said only two of the six professors in his department have found positions in other departments. "The silly argument was that we'd all do better in other departments," he said. "But the fact is that no one has invited us." Gale added that the University as a whole loses a lot when it cuts departments. "A University always suffers when it loses intellectual breadth," he said. "But this University doesn't feel anything unless it loses money,"he added. Gale also said he did not see how making the cuts would save the University money. Tenured faculty in the disbanded departments are still on the payroll, although though most will not be teaching courses, he said. Stevens said she decided to cut American Civilization because "the interest in American studies across the arts and sciences was...heavily in departments other than Am. Civ." She would not comment as to why Regional Sciences was disbanded. Stevens said in September that she had planned to disband all three departments in an effort to "streamline" education. But last week, Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson announced that the Religious Studies department would stay.