German chair under review

Retirement leaves position in question

Rumors about the German major folding have been blazing through campus like the Blitzkrieg, begging the question: is the German major really kaput?

Students involved with the German program began an alumni letter-writing campaign and planned a meeting this week in protest of a perceived move by the college to eliminate a position in the German program. This loss would make it impossible for the Department of German and Russian to offer a major in German.

The tumult began last year when Professor of German Sidney Rosenfeld announced his retirement. College policy concerning retirement requires that the position is made available to all departments in the college. In this case, the German department would normally submit a request to retain the chair to the College Faculty Council, who would then decide whether to grant the position.

This is where the German department diverged from the norm. Every five years, college departments undergo a thorough departmental review to assess the direction and health of the department. By coincidence, the German department was scheduled to undergo its review this year. German faculty decided to delay their request for a renewal until after the program review in hopes that its freshness would propel them through the approval process.

"We asked to put off requesting the position until we had our program review. We had a good review and we wanted some of that momentum on record," Huff said.

The request for the position is due Tuesday, and it will be filed by the German program.

"Nothing has been decided at all," Huff said. "The wheels are just starting to turn."

Despite this open door for the survival of the German major, students and faculty are still worried.

Faculty-in-residence Tanja Knippelberg sent an email to all German majors and upper-level students. The email outlined the situation facing the German department but said, "The college administration has made it clear that it does not want to replace Mr. Rosenfeld's position."

Knippelberg's email was a surprise to some majors; however, senior Kim Brockway said, "I already know everything she said in the email."

She believes the College will not take the request seriously citing that last year no visiting professorship was granted to replace Professor of German Heidi Tewarson, who took a sabbatical leave.

"I think this is a lot bigger thing than the College is making it out to be," Brockway said. "I'm kind of waiting for Tuesday."

"We'd definitely be doomed. We can't run the major without three. The major would have to be scrapped, so there's a lot at stake," Huff said.

If Rosenfeld's position is not replaced, the program will be left with only Huff and Tewarson. With only two professors, upper level classes would be drastically cut in order to cover the introductory level classes.

"We recognize that you've got to trim the fat, but there is a critical mass of three," Huff said.

If the faculty position is lost, it will set in action a cascade of devastating blows to German at Oberlin. Without a major, the Max Kade Foundation will most likely withdraw its funding of the writer-in-residence program.

"We get a writer every Spring semester. There are very few campuses on the globe that can boast that," Huff said. The Kade Foundation has a strong history in Oberlin that goes beyond this program. It funded the construction of the German House and has donated millions of dollars to the Allen Memorial Art Museum.

"The German department has a great reputation outside of Oberlin," Huff said.

This reputation is helpful in soliciting financial support from alumni. "Those people would surely withdraw their support if the major was axed," Huff said.

Despite the remaining questions about the future of the German major, Huff said he supports the program's decision to wait to submit the renewal request. "It can only help the process," he said.