There are more Olympic swimmers than humanities professors on the presidential search committee.
One might ask what Thomas Jefferson would say. After all, of the first eight faculty members appointed to live and teach in the Academical Village, three were professors in the humanities, and the humanities have played a central role at the University over the past two hundred years. But there are no humanities professors on the 28-member search committee for UVa’s tenth president.
There are more former mayors than humanities professors on the search committee.
Think about what that means. The University has the largest religious studies department in the country — but religious studies has no representation on the search committee. The University has one of the best English PhD programs in the country — but no English faculty member sits on the search committee. There were two professors of ancient and modern languages living on the Lawn in 1825, and the University now offers instruction in 25 world languages to thousands of students each year — but not one language professor is on the search committee.
There are more money managers than humanities professors on the search committee.
Undergraduates in the College of Arts of Sciences are the largest population of students at the University, and the humanities are essential to the education that they receive. Humanities courses are at the heart of general education requirements. And, of the 45 departments and programs in the College, over half are in the humanities. Yet, again, not a single humanities professor serves on the search committee.
With only one undergraduate representative, there are still more students than humanities professors on the search committee.
Notably, the current committee is a departure from the search committee for the ninth president, which included two humanities professors. That committee found a president who understood the power of storytelling, the impact of a well-chosen turn of phrase and the central role of ethics in higher education. What does it tell us about the priorities of the current Board of Visitors that the humanities are excluded from this important conversation about the University’s future?
The committee already falls short of the Faculty Senate’s request that the search committee comprise at least 75 percent of University employees. The American Association of University Professors chapter at the University has recently written to the Board, noting that the presidential search committee fails to meet national AAUP standards for faculty and student participation. There are shockingly few professors on the committee, only one from the College, and — say it with us — zero humanities professors.
There are far more lawyers and business owners than humanities professors on the search committee.
In less than a month, faculty will be back in the classroom. Professors in the humanities will offer classes on hundreds of topics that shape our students, our University, and our Commonwealth. Collectively, we will teach students how to read literature, how to analyze art, how to express themselves, and how to think about what it means to be human. As professors in religious studies, we are committed to the idea that deep engagement with the beliefs and practices of communities — historical and contemporary, near and far — is an essential element of a meaningful education. We believe humanities professors would make vital contributions to the presidential search committee as well.
Lawyers, financiers, teachers, students and, yes, Olympic swimmers belong on the search committee. But, surely, faculty members who carry out a core mission of the University belong there, too. Without humanities professors, the presidential search committee fails to represent the University.
We call on the Board to remedy this exclusion at their Monday meeting by reforming the committee. With over 350 humanities professors at the University to choose from, there is an easy way to fix this problem — give us a seat on the search committee.
Erik Braun, Natasha Heller, Paul Dafydd Jones and Janet Spittler are members of the Department of Religious Studies at the University. They can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this guest letter are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. The letter represents the views of the signatories alone.
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