Folklore Dept. faces unsettled fate in SAS

Beset by low student interest, the department may cease to offer undergraduate degrees. Penn's Folklore and Folklife Department may no longer offer a major as of July 1 and will likely be transformed into a center with professors from various departments, according to School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston. The Folklore faculty will vote this summer between maintaining their departmental structure and developing a center, Preston said. The department, which currently has six standing faculty members, has seen its numbers dwindle substantially in recent years. Over the past six years, about one-third of Folklore professors have taken leave or left the University permanently for various reasons. And next year, Preston said, the department will lose two more of its standing faculty members. The eight students who are currently majoring in Folklore would be unaffected by the change and could still complete the major as planned, department members said. And the graduate division of the department is likely to remain unfazed by the changes, with graduate students still being able to receive a degree in Folklore. Although Preston emphasized that plans are still preliminary, he said that the center -- currently untitled -- could operate out of Logan Hall as soon as next fall. The department's professors would be given the option of joining other undergraduate departments, though certain Folklore classes will still be offered. "They're a very valuable group of faculty," Preston said. "They'll be moving into various departments where, in fact, their undergraduate teaching will be somewhat larger than it's been." Preston claimed that the University has been involved in negotiations with the department for over two years. Although he said there was no "single factor responsible for the change," he did acknowledge that undergraduates' have not regularly shown interest in the major. "This department had difficulty finding a large audience among undergraduates," said Preston, adding, however, that it is still a "marvelous graduate group." Folklore Department Chairperson Roger Abrahams maintained that undergraduate students are generally interested in taking Folklore courses. "It isn't an unpopular major," Abrahams said. "Most people just don't know about it." Folklore 101, "Introduction to Folklore," has regularly been a popular course at the University, Preston added. And Abrahams dubbed Penn's graduate program in Folklore "the best in the world," attracting "fantastic students." He said that faculty members were not entirely disappointed that the undergraduate department might soon disband, claiming that he had "no complaints" with the negotiations and was pleased with the "tremendous support" that the current administration has given the department as a whole.