Linguistics Gets One-Year Reprieve

Informed only last fall that their department would be reduced to a committee, students and faculty in Linguistics were recently given a reprieve.

Administrators have said little on the issue, but linguistics students and faculty say their department will remain a department for at least one more year.

The news came not from an administrative pronouncement but through a chance phone call from Associate Professor of Linguistics Jill L. Carrier to Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Christoph J. Wolff.

The day before she led the Linguistics concentration meeting for first-years last Wednesday, Carrier--still unaware of her department's status for next year--called Wolff. Only then did the dean say that Linguistics would remain alive for another year.

"I called specifically because I really wanted to know," Carrier says. "I had heard informally that we would not be changed to a committee. I knew that no official word had been put out and I knew that we would be asked [by the first-years]."

News on the department had been so sparse that upper-class concentrators who attended the meeting were surprised by her announcement.

"At the freshmen meetings when I announced this," Carrier says, "because I myself had just been told formally that I could say it, all those present said, `Really?'"

Knowles' Decision

In a letter last summer, Dean of the FacultyJeremy R. Knowles informed department members thathe would transform the linguistics department intoa committee.

That decision, which Knowles says was reachedafter a long review process, incensed manystudents and faculty members.

It also prompted 20 linguistics concentratorsto from the Harvard-Radcliffe UndergraduateLinguists' Society last October.

That group lobbied various administrators tokeep the department intact. After closed-doorpleas proved unsuccessful, members of the groupblasted the administration for its allegedreluctance to take concentrators' complaints intoaccount.

The group became less active after December,members say.

"We didn't get complacent, certainly, becausewe knew that we were still in jeopardy," sayslinguistics concentrator Glenn M. Davis '95. "Butwe knew it was past time to keep talking to thedeans and make our position known over and overagain."

Last October, Knowles formed an advisorycommittee on Linguistics. But its mission--todevise a way of transforming the department into acommittee--did little to dispel the criticism ofconcentrators.

The committee, chaired by Professor ofPhilosophy Warren D. Goldfarb '69, submitted itsreport to Knowles about a month ago.

But the contents of the report have not beenreleased. Some concentrators say that isrepresentative of the administration's lack ofcommunication with students.

Asked about the advisory committee report,Davis says: " I didn't even know there was one."

Associate Professor of Linguistics Mark R. Haleand Carrier are leaving Harvard at the end of thisyear because their eight-year contracts haveexpired.

To replace them, the University has hired onescholar, whose name has not been released, to filla temporary one-year position.

The department will also keep on VisitingProfessor of Linguistics Hoskuldur Thrainsson foranother year.

But students interviewed by The Crimson sayThrainsson and the new hire will not make up forthe loss of Hale and Carrier, both of whomconcentrators describe as "amazing."

"That is only one lecturer to replace the workof two assistant professors," says MarlyneBaptista-Morey, a fourth-year graduate student inthe department. "[The administration is] notcommitting. That really bothers me."

"We only have two tenured faculty members inour department," Baptista-Morey adds. "We do haveassistant faculty members who are very competentand they deserve tenure, [but] within two years'time, they will be at the end of their contract,and we will lose them."

Concentrators say the administration needs tolisten to their concerns about faculty. And forhis part, Davis says the veil of secrecysurrounding decisions on linguistics must belifted.

"The future of our field hangs in the balancehere," Davis says. "it's not that I'm expecting aphone call at home, but I expect that [Knowles]would tell the senior faculty members and givethem clearance to tell us. I think people knowwhat's going on more than we're finding out, and Idon't think that's right."

Goldfarb, the advisory committee chair, saysKnowles is expected to make a decision on thereport in the next few weeks.

The dean essentially has two choices. Knowlescan decide to leave Linguistics a department andsimply use the report for information purposes--orhe can buck the undergraduates and change thedepartment into a committee.

But if he chooses reform, the dean will have toconsult the faculty first.

"If he wishes to go ahead with the plan thatwas suggested in the fall, he will have to take itto the Faculty Council and the full Faculty ofArts and Sciences," Goldfarb says. "The Facultywould have to vote on it and so I presume therewould be an open debate upon it."

But one member of the advisory committeespeculates that Knowles will take no immediateaction.

"If he decided to pursue the question furtherabout the possibility of altering the structure ofthe department, he could not do that on his own,"says Dean for Undergraduate Education LawrenceBuell. "The dean could alternatively choose not totake action on the specific point that he askedthe special committee to focus on and could simplyuse the information gathered in the committeereport to help chart the department's futurecourse."

"I have a hunch that the second course ofaction is more likely, but again I don't want tosecond-guess what the dean will do," Buell says.

But concentrators says they have no use forhunches. They simply want to know whatadministrators are going to do about theirdepartment.

"I'd like them to make a definite statement onthe future of the department," says concentratorGenevieve Roach '94. "I'd like them to tellfreshmen as well as other undergraduates thatthere will be a linguistics department where theycan study linguistics as an autonomousdiscipline.

Knowles' Decision

In a letter last summer, Dean of the FacultyJeremy R. Knowles informed department members thathe would transform the linguistics department intoa committee.

That decision, which Knowles says was reachedafter a long review process, incensed manystudents and faculty members.

It also prompted 20 linguistics concentratorsto from the Harvard-Radcliffe UndergraduateLinguists' Society last October.

That group lobbied various administrators tokeep the department intact. After closed-doorpleas proved unsuccessful, members of the groupblasted the administration for its allegedreluctance to take concentrators' complaints intoaccount.

The group became less active after December,members say.

"We didn't get complacent, certainly, becausewe knew that we were still in jeopardy," sayslinguistics concentrator Glenn M. Davis '95. "Butwe knew it was past time to keep talking to thedeans and make our position known over and overagain."

Last October, Knowles formed an advisorycommittee on Linguistics. But its mission--todevise a way of transforming the department into acommittee--did little to dispel the criticism ofconcentrators.

The committee, chaired by Professor ofPhilosophy Warren D. Goldfarb '69, submitted itsreport to Knowles about a month ago.

But the contents of the report have not beenreleased. Some concentrators say that isrepresentative of the administration's lack ofcommunication with students.

Asked about the advisory committee report,Davis says: " I didn't even know there was one."

Associate Professor of Linguistics Mark R. Haleand Carrier are leaving Harvard at the end of thisyear because their eight-year contracts haveexpired.

To replace them, the University has hired onescholar, whose name has not been released, to filla temporary one-year position.

The department will also keep on VisitingProfessor of Linguistics Hoskuldur Thrainsson foranother year.

But students interviewed by The Crimson sayThrainsson and the new hire will not make up forthe loss of Hale and Carrier, both of whomconcentrators describe as "amazing."

"That is only one lecturer to replace the workof two assistant professors," says MarlyneBaptista-Morey, a fourth-year graduate student inthe department. "[The administration is] notcommitting. That really bothers me."

"We only have two tenured faculty members inour department," Baptista-Morey adds. "We do haveassistant faculty members who are very competentand they deserve tenure, [but] within two years'time, they will be at the end of their contract,and we will lose them."

Concentrators say the administration needs tolisten to their concerns about faculty. And forhis part, Davis says the veil of secrecysurrounding decisions on linguistics must belifted.

"The future of our field hangs in the balancehere," Davis says. "it's not that I'm expecting aphone call at home, but I expect that [Knowles]would tell the senior faculty members and givethem clearance to tell us. I think people knowwhat's going on more than we're finding out, and Idon't think that's right."

Goldfarb, the advisory committee chair, saysKnowles is expected to make a decision on thereport in the next few weeks.

The dean essentially has two choices. Knowlescan decide to leave Linguistics a department andsimply use the report for information purposes--orhe can buck the undergraduates and change thedepartment into a committee.

But if he chooses reform, the dean will have toconsult the faculty first.

"If he wishes to go ahead with the plan thatwas suggested in the fall, he will have to take itto the Faculty Council and the full Faculty ofArts and Sciences," Goldfarb says. "The Facultywould have to vote on it and so I presume therewould be an open debate upon it."

But one member of the advisory committeespeculates that Knowles will take no immediateaction.

"If he decided to pursue the question furtherabout the possibility of altering the structure ofthe department, he could not do that on his own,"says Dean for Undergraduate Education LawrenceBuell. "The dean could alternatively choose not totake action on the specific point that he askedthe special committee to focus on and could simplyuse the information gathered in the committeereport to help chart the department's futurecourse."

"I have a hunch that the second course ofaction is more likely, but again I don't want tosecond-guess what the dean will do," Buell says.

But concentrators says they have no use forhunches. They simply want to know whatadministrators are going to do about theirdepartment.

"I'd like them to make a definite statement onthe future of the department," says concentratorGenevieve Roach '94. "I'd like them to tellfreshmen as well as other undergraduates thatthere will be a linguistics department where theycan study linguistics as an autonomousdiscipline.