A group of leading academics has written to Queen's University to protest at its decision to end the teaching of classics, Greek, Latin and classical studies.
The letter to the university's vice-chancellor, Prof George Bain, says the decision is a philistine one which should be immediately reversed. Academics from Trinity College Dublin and Oxford and Cambridge universities in Britain have signed the letter.
The academics say they do not accept the university's explanation that the department must be closed because of a financial deficit.
"A departmental deficit should not in itself be a sufficient reason for closure in a university in sound financial health, as Queen's asserts itself to be," says the letter.
"There is, or should be, more to a university than profit. Even seen in a strictly prudential light, however, this decision makes no sense: this is a quality department."
The academics also take issue with the university's claim that demand for classical languages has fallen to the point where the school is no longer viable in its current form.
"But enrolments in classical studies at Queen's increased by about 140 per cent during the last academic year . . ." the letter says.
"Queen's offers the only provision for classics, Latin, Greek and classical studies in Northern Ireland; many of the department's present students could not have afforded to study elsewhere and this closure will therefore rob an entire section of the community of Northern Ireland of access to these subjects - a fact which has already been publicly deplored by figures as distinguished as Séamus Heaney, Athol Fugard and Michael Longley."
The letter says the decision constitutes a betrayal of Queen's commitment to contribute "through our diverse range of expertise to Northern Ireland society".
Those who signed the letter were: Judith Mossman, Trinity College Dublin; David Langslow, professor of classics at the University of Manchester; Eric Handley, Trinity College, Cambridge; Anthony Brown, University of Cambridge; Regine May, Oxford and University of Manchester; Carol Handley, University of Cambridge Board of Continuing Education; John H. Betts, University of Bristol; Catherine Steel, lecturer in classics, University of Glasgow; John H. W. Penney, University of Oxford; Andrew Downey, Westminster Under School, London; Clare Sharp, head of classics, St Paul's Girls School; Ian McAuslan, former head of classics, Eton College; Michael Atkinson, Eton College; Nicholas Denyer, Trinity College, Cambridge; Neil Hopkinson, Trinity College, Cambridge; Janet Fielder, Rugby School; Keith Maclennan, Rugby School; James Morwood, Oxford University; Eric Dugdale, Gustavus Adolphus College, US; Justin Stanley, head of classics, Nottingham High School; David Raeburn, New College, Oxford; David Carter, head of classics, Watford Grammar School for boys; Karen Ni Mheallaigh, Coláiste na Trionoide, Baile Átha Cliath; John Taylor, head of classics, Tonbridge School; Elizabeth Warren, Bath Royal High School; Holly Eckhardt, head of classics, Bolton School; Jeffrey Swales, head of classics, Bablake School, Coventry; Cathy Bothwell, head of classics, Devonport High School.