HUXLEY, MRIA,
Sir, - Your readers may be shocked to learn of the apparent decision of the Queen's University of Belfast to end the teaching of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies there, ignoring urgent representations from the students and from leaders of our discipline, and after a breathtakingly short period for consultation of under two weeks.
In a recent survey by the Guardian, the Department was ranked fifth in the UK for its teaching, and it scored 23 out of 24 in the British Government's "Teaching Quality Assessment".
The university has cited low enrolment figures as the ground for its decision. However, its figures are at best questionable, and the intake of students has been rising rapidly. The department is also doing research which has been judged as of national importance in the UK, and increased its standing in the last "Research Assessment Exercise".
This is the only department at Queen's targeted for closure, although the Institute of Irish Studies is also to be broken up. It is hard to overstate the intellectual incoherence of Queen's plan to support Ancient History and Byzantine Studies, while ending the teaching of the languages and literatures which formed those societies, as they have our own. Despite serious cuts under Mrs Thatcher's government, the study of Classics has proved very resilient and popular with students. Moreover, Queen's is the only place in Northern Ireland where this increasingly popular and fundamental subject can be studied.
We ask for this hasty decision to be reconsidered. - Yours, etc.,
Dr ALAN BOWMAN, FBA,
President, Roman Society;
Prof CHRISTOPHER CAREY,
Chair, RAE panel in Classics;
Prof GILLIAN CLARK,
Chair, Council of University
Classical Departments;
Prof ROBERT FOWLER,
Chair, Classical Association;
Prof JASPER GRIFFIN, FBA,
Professor of Classical
Literature, Oxford;
Prof GEORGE HUXLEY, MRIA,
Trinity College Dublin;
Prof RICHARD JANKO,
Professor of Greek,
University of London;
Prof FERGUS MILLAR, FBA,
Camden Professor of
Ancient History, Oxford;
Prof ROBIN OSBORNE,
President, Hellenic Society;
Prof CHRISTOPHER ROWE,
past President,
Hellenic Society.