Not Quite the worst possible news, but...
Today I heard that as part of our University's restructuring process, my entire department - Theatre and Film Studies - may be disestablished (read - CUT) as of January 1 next year. The rationale given for this is dual: that the department is not profitable, and that Theatre Studies and Film Studies are not "core disciplines" (whatever that is deemed to mean) of a Bachelor of Arts degree. This decision is part of a proposal that has been developed by a group of academics and "interested members of the public". This consultancy group has been working on the proposal for sixteen months.
During that time, not one of the members of the panel has met with us or discussed our programme with us. As our departmental finances are pretty much in order, I have to conclude that this group of "experts" know nothing of what we do, or our disciplines.
We have six weeks to put in a submission in an attempt to prevent this from occurring.
Personally, this doesn't have a huge practical effect. I'm in the final stages of writing my dissertation, and my contract only runs to the end of the academic year, regardless. However. This is the department to which I've devoted the last decade of my life. I believe absolutely in the value of what we teach. We produce intellectually rigorous, critically thinking, articulate, focused, passionate graduates (I am one). We produce high-calibre creative work and internationally recognised research outcomes.
A group of bureaucrats is trying to say that what we do is fundamentally worthless - not deserving of a place in a modern university, despite the fact that nearly every university in the world (and certainly in this country) has a film and a theatre programme. So worthless, they're willing to withdraw courses leaving students in the lurch halfway through their completed majors. We're a small department, with 3.5 full time academic staff - nonetheless, we've got a flourishing post-graduate programme with currently nine PhD candidates. No structures are in place for supporting these students, or transferring them to other supervision. This is absolutely disgraceful. It's also pretty heart-breaking, if I'm honest. I'm righteously indignant, but I'm also really, really disappointed and sad. We did NOT see this coming.
The thing is, I really think they're underestimating how committed we are to what we do, to the students we serve, to finding any avenue to remedy this decision, as publicly as we can.
I'm not naive when it comes to the power of institutions; chances are we're going to ultimately lose this battle. But we're going down fighting.
During that time, not one of the members of the panel has met with us or discussed our programme with us. As our departmental finances are pretty much in order, I have to conclude that this group of "experts" know nothing of what we do, or our disciplines.
We have six weeks to put in a submission in an attempt to prevent this from occurring.
Personally, this doesn't have a huge practical effect. I'm in the final stages of writing my dissertation, and my contract only runs to the end of the academic year, regardless. However. This is the department to which I've devoted the last decade of my life. I believe absolutely in the value of what we teach. We produce intellectually rigorous, critically thinking, articulate, focused, passionate graduates (I am one). We produce high-calibre creative work and internationally recognised research outcomes.
A group of bureaucrats is trying to say that what we do is fundamentally worthless - not deserving of a place in a modern university, despite the fact that nearly every university in the world (and certainly in this country) has a film and a theatre programme. So worthless, they're willing to withdraw courses leaving students in the lurch halfway through their completed majors. We're a small department, with 3.5 full time academic staff - nonetheless, we've got a flourishing post-graduate programme with currently nine PhD candidates. No structures are in place for supporting these students, or transferring them to other supervision. This is absolutely disgraceful. It's also pretty heart-breaking, if I'm honest. I'm righteously indignant, but I'm also really, really disappointed and sad. We did NOT see this coming.
The thing is, I really think they're underestimating how committed we are to what we do, to the students we serve, to finding any avenue to remedy this decision, as publicly as we can.
I'm not naive when it comes to the power of institutions; chances are we're going to ultimately lose this battle. But we're going down fighting.