Future of SARS remains uncertain

The status of the South Asian Regional Studies Department still hangs in the balance as a faculty committee works past its December deadline to determine the future shape of the department. The task force charged to study Asian-American Studies at Penn -- specifically the SARS department -- is on the verge of completing its report, originally projected to be done by the start of December. Last summer, School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston charged the six-member task force with looking at SARS after the department faced funding problems and faculty departures. Some worry that the University will transform the department into a program, which will leave it without its own central hub and faculty. However, committee sources said that what the group will propose and when it will be finished is anyone's guess. "We have had a number of unanticipated problems," SARS Undergraduate Chairwoman Rosane Rocher said. "The task force has been investigating where best to strengthen the program." Walter Licht, an associate dean in SAS and a task-force member, said he believes that the authorization of a new faculty position may salvage the struggling department. "We experienced a dramatic loss in faculty strength that was really unpredictable," Licht said. "We are conceiving a recommendation for three faculty authorizations," he continued. "It is possible that one of them certainly could be added to the department." But College sophomore Shaun Gonzales, a member of the Save SARS student coalition that has been working to retain SARS as a department, said his meetings with the task force have given him a different impression. "Judging on the way our meetings have gone, my guess is that there will be dissolution of the department," said Gonzales, the research director for Save SARS. "A lot of the members tend to be for the idea of making the department into a program." The committee recently began meeting with students to help determine the best course of action. However, more than a month has passed since the original December 1 reporting deadline, and committee members are in disagreement about when the proposal will be finalized. "I thought we had what was probably a final meeting over vacation," said Rocher, who is also a committee member. "I expect the report within a week." But Licht is not nearly as optimistic about the timetable. "We still don't have anything in writing," he said. "I think it will be another month before we make our final proposal." With two committee members currently on leaves of absence, the fate of the SARS department may remain uncertain deep into February. Since 1974, there have been no new faculty authorizations for the SARS department. As a result of the pending retirements of multiple professors, Rocher is currently the only active faculty member in the department. Preston charged the task force with rethinking the undergraduate layers of the program, which also has a graduate component. Despite all the attention that the SARS department has been getting, Licht maintains that the SARS department is not the center of the overall investigation. "The department became the issue, and it's not really the center of our task," Licht said. "We have concentrated on understanding the field, defining our needs and defining three [faculty] positions." Gonzales fears that if the department is stripped of its status, interest in the subject will dwindle. "Immediately, you won't see much of a difference," Gonzales said. "But it automatically loses its clout with the University if it becomes a program." Gonzales hopes not only to keep SARS as a department, but also to increase the number of modern courses offered, claiming the department is too classical in focus. Licht believes that even if SARS is turned into a program, it will still hold a strong place in the Penn curriculum. "We have successful programs in other areas, such as Middle Eastern and African Studies, that are not departments," he said. "South Asian studies is incorporated in all of the disciplines."