EDITORIAL: Forum is not a Penn priority

The new humanities forum has good points but presents and unneeded burden and cost. Though the idea of creating a humanities forum at Penn is a good one, the University is going about it the wrong way. The plan calls for a network for intellectual exchange between faculty, Philadelphia-wide discussion of the humanities and numerous humanities events each semester, plus a calendar to coordinate various departments' activities. It's certainly wise for professors from different departments to share their knowledge on topics of interest, and involving community members in Penn's intellectual life will benefit all parties involved, but adding an extra burden to professors' already harried academic schedules doesn't make sense. Many professors simply don't have the extra time to engage in the activities required under the humanities forum -- as they already cite time constraints as a reason for faults in the poor advising system. And spending large sums of money on the new program, most notably for construction of a new facility to house it, should not be a priority for the College of Arts and Sciences or the University. With multiple departments suffering from a lack of funds and therefore unable to fill faculty slots, officials should be dedicating their money and fundraising energy in other directions. With so many questions unanswered, it's unclear that the humanities forum will even be able to make a lasting impact on the University community. Instead of plunging ahead, forum advocates should scale back the program, testing out individual elements -- which may well have merit -- before binding them all together and building them a brand new house.