SARS Department will retain status

After months of speculation, School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston announced yesterday that the South Asian Regional Studies Department will remain in its current form. The future of the SARS Department, which has been beset by several faculty departures, has been hanging in the balance over the past several months as a committee evaluated whether the University should turn it into a program without a central hub. "I didn't see any particular value at this point in closing the SARS Department," Preston said. Preston also authorized two additional faculty searches in South Asian studies, and plans to authorize one more in the future. Yesterday's announcement comes on the heels of a committee report evaluating South Asian studies at Penn. In September, Preston charged the six-member faculty task force with evaluating the state of South Asian studies at Penn and recommending future directions for the program. The committee also recommended the addition of at least two core courses to the South Asian studies curriculum, including one that may become a part of the fledgling pilot curriculum. SARS Department Chairwoman and committee member Rosane Rocher was pleased with Preston's decision to maintain the department. "The department is a 54-year old department with a great track record and a flourishing undergraduate program," Rocher said. "I am very grateful for Dean Preston's expression of confidence in what we have been doing." Rather than make a definitive recommendation about the structure of the SARS Department, the committee suggested many alternatives, none of which were unanimously favored by the committee members. One proposal involved the division of the current department into a smaller department and multiple centers. But Shaun Gonzales, member of the Save SARS Coalition -- which came together last fall when the committee was assembled to look into the fate of the department -- called that proposal "culturally disrespectful." "What they proposed was the organization of a cultural dusting," Gonzales said. "What it was suggesting was that the area of South Asian studies was not as significant as more Western studies." Preston said that despite his decision, he believes South Asian studies could thrive at Penn without the central departmental hub that many believe it needs. "I think that there has been a misunderstanding about the importance of SARS as a department to the endeavor of South Asian studies," Preston said. "It is a very small department that really is not central to the endeavor at all." In recent weeks, the Save SARS Coalition has increased its efforts to maintain the department's current form. The group presented the deans with letters from alumni, and parents made phone calls to help save the central hub. Gonzales said he was surprised to hear that the department had been spared. "Dean Preston's decision is one that we had hoped for but didn't expect," Gonzales said. "It's a very clear sign of his determination to rebuild the department." The task force report includes recommendations to hire faculty in the areas of both contemporary and classical South Asian cultures. Rocher said she is cautiously optimistic about the faculty recommendations, which she hopes will include some secondary faculty appointments -- appointments in other departments that will also serve SARS -- as well. "We hope that future appointments will further strengthen our department," Rocher said. "This is a very general framework turned out, but we need real people to fill real places." But while Rocher hopes that faculty will be appointed directly to the department, Preston expects to continue the trend of hiring interdisciplinary professors specializing in South Asian studies. "The fact of the matter is that the main issue in the future of South Asian studies is faculty recruiting," Preston said. "The South Asian courses are already being taught by faculty who are not in our SARS department."