The recent recommendation made by the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee to convert the Classical Studies department into an interdepartmental program has caused much dismay among the department's professors and students, who staunchly oppose the proposal. In response to the release of the CARS report, several students stood outside last week's closed faculty meeting holding protest signs with phrases such as "Save the Classical Studies Department" and "We Love Prof. [Cheryl] Walker." Undergraduate Department Representative to the Classics department Alex Smith '09 explained that the protest was held to promote "awareness of the Classical Studies department as a very dedicated department. We're willing to sit outside the faculty meeting, not saying anything, completely peaceful, just [to] show them how much we care about this," he said.

Lee Marmor '10, also a Classics UDR, explained that in addition to the protest, Classics students have attended the three CARS proposal forums and are asking alumni for support. The investment of students in the Classics department did not go unnoticed by administrators, and Provost Marty Krauss explained, "Both [student forums] were pretty much dominated by students from the Classics department, and they made a very impassioned plea to the committee about the quality of their experiences with the Classics department, and I thought they did a lovely job and a thoughtful job of expressing their views."

Prof. Ann O. Koloski-Ostrow (CLAS) explained the Classics department's opposition to potentially being turned into an interdepartmental program.

"It's a very serious thing to turn a department into a program," Koloski-Ostrow said. "We have some very distinguished programs with very distinguished faculty on campus. This is not a slight at those existing programs, but none of those programs were created by the demotion of a department. A department of Classical Studies does do a lot of interdepartmental work, we don't deny that, but to turn us into an interdisciplinary program would be a real demotion in prestige already achieved by the department, and we are concerned about it first and foremost in terms of the reputation of Brandeis University."

Koloski-Ostrow said that she believes that eliminating the Classical Studies department would damage Brandeis' reputation because almost all of the universities Brandeis competes with for the best students have Classical Studies departments. "We are trying to explain this to the administration," Koloski-Ostrow said. "We understand the administration is in a bind [and] the CARS committee's mission is to try and be more efficient and save money, [but] this is not going to save money; they have admitted that," she said.

Koloski-Ostrow elaborated in an e-mail to the Justice that "the administration and CARS were asked several times (in private meetings and in front of the whole faculty last week at the faculty meeting on April 23) how closing down the THREE departments recommended for 'demotion' into interdepartmental programs would save money? Each time the question comes up, the administration and CARS members say that this recommendation is 'not about money.' Instead, they say that the restructuring is aimed at eliminating duplication of courses and strongly encouraging various academic units to reach across disciplines to fulfill needs that a smaller faculty (in the future) will not be able to fulfill in any other way."

Walker said that upon reviewing the CARS proposal she did not see "any documentation to suggest that [turning the department into an interdepartmental program] would a) save money or b) facilitate faculty reduction, which is the charge of the committee."

Johnston said that she was "appalled [and] really disgusted" about the CARS proposals.

Prof. Patricia Johnston (CLAS) said she was "very proud" and "gratified to have so much support" from the Classical Studies students who held the protest.

Walker (CLAS) agreed that she could "not be happier with the students."

"I have been so pleased that on their own volition they have taken up the torch and decided that [supporting the department] is something they want to spend time doing," she said, "not only the students on campus but [also] alumni. I have gotten three notices from people who have graduated in recent years. Can we turn all that energy into something positive? I have hope.