Two prominent academics from outside the University recently contributed to growing dissent regarding Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe's proposal to eliminate the instruction of ancient Greek here as part of the administration's integrated planning initiatives.Matthew S. Santirocco, the dean of arts and sciences at New York University, sent a letter to Jaffe on Jan. 31 outlining concerns over his proposal. Santirocco is also a classics professor and a board member of the American Philological Association, which sent Jaffe a letter in December asking him to reconsider his proposal.

"For a major institution like Brandeis to assert that the study of classics is valued, but then to offer it only through classics-in-translation classes, will strike many in the academy as strange, to say the least," Santirocco wrote, referring to the importance of ancient Greek in a liberal arts education.

Under Jaffe's current plan, ancient Greek literature would be taught in translation; language courses would not be offered after the current first-year class graduates.

Gregory Nagy, the director of the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington and a former president of the American Philological Association, expressed concerns to the Justice last Wednesday about Jaffe's proposal before lecturing here as a visiting speaker on Homer's Odyssey. The event, attended by around 70 people, was sponsored by the Classical Studies department. (See related article, page 3).

"I hope I don't sound incendiary, but the universities of Brandeis' stature don't do things like [cutting Greek] because it's something, I hate to say, to be ashamed of," Nagy said.

Jaffe's 61-page report published last fall originally included a recommendation to eliminate the entire classical studies department, which offers instruction in Greek and Latin languages.

After being informed of the report, Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, department chair of classical studies, led a campaign challenging Jaffe's recommendation. Jaffe then rescinded his proposal so only ancient Greek would be cut, but the department also strongly opposes this plan.

Santirocco's letter states that Brandeis is "deeply committed" to a liberal arts education and that the teaching of ancient Greek is important toward maintaining this ideal. Also a former dean at the University of Pennsylvania, Santirocco said he knows "firsthand the difficulties that low-enrolled classes present," the primary reason Jaffe kept the elimination of ancient Greek in his curricular proposals.

"But I have found it useful to explore with departments other ways of meting their responsibilities (through different accounting of faculty load, for instance,) short of canceling essential classes and subjects," Santirocco's letter states.

Upon learning of Jaffe's original proposal to eliminate the classical studies department, Nagy said, "I could not believe my ears." He said Jaffe's modified proposal to include only the teaching of ancient Greek is just as shameful. If Brandeis had a Ph.D. program in classical studies, Nagy also said the department would rival some of the best research facilities in the country.

Of reading ancient Greek texts in translation, Nagy said it is important to spark student interest but should not be depended upon as a viable means to educate students, adding that translation "commodifies and McDonaldizes" the value of texts.

"I think it would be such a blight to the Brandeis tradition," he said.

Head of the Classical Studies department here, Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, said she was honored to have Nagy, whose celebrity is widespread among classics departments, visit Brandeis. She said that while Nagy has not written or spoken with Jaffe about his proposal, his presence on campus conveyed his disapproval.

"I'd be the kind of person who would be dragged kicking and screaming out the doors saying to the last breath, 'save the classics,' and by saving the classics I mean saving the language," Nagy said.