EPPC eyes changes to Judaic and Near Eastern Studies

The Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Department is hoping to gain something by implementing a number of changes in its program. It's already lost something.

The department has submitted a proposal to the Educational Plans and Policies Committee (EPPC) that would formally discontinue the Near Eastern component of the program. The department would be reconfigured as a Jewish Studies department.

"In order to make JNES a little more respectable as a major, the first step is to realize it's a misnomer," said senior Caroline Sorgen, a member of the JNES committee.

The name change reflects a near-total restructuring of the department. An array of alterations is currently being proposed as part of the program's scheduled review by the EPPC. Other changes include the creation of a new job position and the discontinuation of conversational Hebrew.

"There are some substantial changes," said Associate Dean of the College Suzanne Gay. "The emphasis is on a different discipline."

According to the proposal before the EPPC, the Jewish Studies major would offer concentrations in History and Religion. The position that is currently held by Associate Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Francesco Melfi will be scrapped in favor of a teaching position that specializes in history.

"I've lost a job because of this," Melfi said. "No one has done anything to help myself. They have changed my position."

Melfi will continue to teach for the duration of the year. Melfi has traditionally handled the literature component of the major, teaching courses in conversational Hebrew and literature.

An outside review of the department suggested that the two years of conversational Hebrew that are currently required for the major are not sufficient preparation for graduate study. The new proposal would replace that requirement with one year of text-based classical Hebrew.

"What will the major get out of that one year?" Committee member and Associate Professor of History Steve Volk asked rhetorically at the EPPC meeting Thursday afternoon. "Jews are people of the book, people of the written word. There is an understanding one gets from the text. Even if your ability to translate is not great, it gives access that would be sad if it was lacking."

"As a language teacher myself, I couldn't see how you could do this," Gay said. "I couldn't see how you could ignore modern language." Gay said she was finally convinced that the two languages were unrelated, and the teaching of conversational Hebrew constituted a waste of faculty resources.

"Conversational Hebrew wasn't working in the major," Sorgen said. "It's a very small program so you're not always learning the basic things you need to learn. I don't think my major is weak, but I think it could be better." Some members of the EPPC questioned whether the creation of two disciplines within the major would adequately address concerns that the department suffered from serious intellectual disorganization.

EPPC member Associate Professor of Biology Yolanda Cruz pointed to a portion of the outside evaluation which charged that the department had a lack of clear vision. "This is a fundamental flaw that I don't think we can address by reshuffling courses," Cruz said.

Members of the committee maintained the changes were not merely a reshuffling of the existing offerings.

"The key change was to move JNES from an ill-conceived format," Volk said. "We were given a box and we used anything that fit geographically. It was a grab-bag."

Director of Sponsored Programs David Love asked committee members to gauge student reaction to the termination of Near Eastern studies.

"They're excited," said Professor of Politics Ron Kahn. "Across the country, you don't have programs that link the two. It's not proper in this context."

The courses that have been used to fulfill the near Eastern component of the major have been taught in recent years by faculty members of other departments. Classes focusing on the Islamic world taught by Professor of Politics Ben Schiff and Associate Professor of Religion Jim Morris have been cross-listed by JNES.

Schiff said he supported the switch. "I'm for it," he said. "I don't think it has made sense for one major to bracket two different studies. In the interest of truth in advertising, it makes sense to separate them."

The EPPC will evaluate the fate of the JNES proposal over the next few weeks.

"I think the present situation is not quite as grim as it seems," said JNES director Miles Krassen. "There was a period of transition when things weren't as healthy."

"The committee is really positive," Sorgen said. "It's exciting to see this much energy."