AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SOCIAL SCIENCES FACULTY
This letter comes to you from the Society for Educational Scholarship, a group
representing a large proportion of active Ph.D. and M.A. students in the Department of
Education. Before you cast your vote either to preserve or dismantle this department, we, as
students expecting to take a lead in the future of education, would like to acquaint you with our
perspective on the administration's recommendation to close the Department. We feel that
the administration has not adequately considered the effects of this recommendation, both in the
way it has been executed in the short term, and in its blindness to the long-term consequences,
for the world of education in general, and for the University itself. Our concerns echo the
comments of the very review committee the administration commissioned to study the
Department and upon whose report Dean Saller bases his recommendation. This committee
stated:
"The Social Sciences Division has to assess the importance of having a department of
education at the University of Chicago. How important is this to the division, to the University,
and to larger communities beyond? How much would a strong department of education
contribute to each? What do we stand to lose if we no longer make these contributions? In
reaching a decision about the Department of Education, we believe that it is essential to think
carefully about these larger questions, not just the likelihood of a successful rebuilding
effort."
We urge you to consider these questions seriously before you make your decision.
Despite the administration's recent attacks on the Department's quality, the graduates it
produces continue to be among the most esteemed and productive in the world of education.
The influence of these graduates over the years has had, and continues to have, a profound
impact for the good on innumerable individuals and institutions beyond the walls of this
University. We believe cutting off the source of this influence, at a time when education has
become one of the most pressing social issues facing our nation and others, would be both tragic
and cowardly, and far beneath the dignity of this institution.
You may be under the impression that closing the Department of Education will, to some
degree, enrich the rest of the division in terms of resources or prestige. Departments within the
division have already benefited from the decline in appointments to the Education faculty which
has occurred over the past ten years. While in the short term, few resources will be freed from
closing the Department of Education, in the long run closing the Department will impoverish
the intellectual diversity of the University and diminish its leadership in the academic
world.
Furthermore, given the Department's prominent position in the field of education, we are
deeply troubled by the largely covert processes by which the administration arrived at and
communicated its recommendation. To cite a few prominent examples:
(1) The administration has claimed interest in supporting teacher training programs. It has
failed to acknowledge, however, the obstacles to obtaining state approval of such programs in
the absence of a Department of Education. For approval, the Illinois State Board of Education
requires an institutional commitment to teacher education; the elimination of the Department
would provide prima facie evidence that the University has no such commitment.
(2) The administration has failed to articulate a serious vision for the future of educational
studies at this University. The proposed committee structure, which, unlike the committees on
Social Thought and Human Development, would not have faculty appointments nor admit
graduate students, is sorely inadequate. Universities without degree-granting units committed to
the study of education, such as Princeton and Yale, have little impact on the field of education.
The administration has decided to dismantle the Department without considering how the
decision will diminish the University's historic leadership in education that has long been at the
core of its identity as an institution. We find the administration's lack of vision even more
troubling given the lack of considered debate the administration has allowed or fostered
concerning such a momentous decision. We feel this goes against the principle of honest and
informed inquiry which lies at the center of this University's mission.
(3) The administration's lack of commitment to us as students threatens the intellectual integrity
of the University. We have been given few assurances that the education and training we will
receive if the Department is closed will approach the level we expected at the time we were
admitted into this institution. Dean Saller cavalierly proposed to us that we would be able to
finish our doctoral work either through the medium of e-mail or under the guidance of faculty
from other Chicago-area institutions. Such proposals, we believe, jeopardize the integrity of the
diplomas bestowed by this University.
We feel that these actions have compromised both the reputation and the character of this
institution.
We urge you to support a renewed commitment on the part of this institution to
educational research, educational thought, and educational practice, by casting your vote on
November 13th to retain the Department of Education. Please consider the full effects of your
decision before you cast a vote that could wreak a great deal of damage in the world beyond this
University, and that could provide a precedent for future administrative abuses of the
University's own traditions.
The Society for Educational Scholarship
Please visit our web-site for detailed information about the considerable
national reaction against
the recommendation to close the Department of Education.
http://student-www.uchicago.edu/orgs/eduscholarship/
Kim Alkins, Dorothea Anagnostopoulos, Suzanne Bavly, Brian Bontempo, Geoffrey D. Borman,
Eric Camburn, Mary Ellen Carroll, Joan Chun, Christina Coughlin, Karen DeMoss, Alfred
Estberg, Lianghuo Fan, Pushpam Jain, William H. Jeynes, Bryan B. Jujawski, Jaekyung Lee,
Suzanne W. Levin, Jianhua Li, Cheryl Littman,
Stuart Luppescu, Carmen Manning,
William S.
McKersie, Steven Meyer, Manisha Modi, Beezer Moolji,
Lisa Moultrie, Raymond L.
Moushon,
Steve Meyer, Bruce Novak, Jasmine Pamphilis, Jennifer Pechtl,
Stacey Rutledge, Susan
Ryan,
Karin Sconzert, Lisa Scruggs, David Shernoff, Kendra Sisserson, David Snow,
Eiko
Tsuchida,
Ming Wa, Kaffie Weaver, Kerry Wheeler, Barbara Winicki
http://student-www.uchicago.edu/orgs/eduscholarship/ -- Revised: November 12, 1996
Copyright & copy 1996 Society for Educational Scholarship
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