To President Michael Roth and Provost Nicole Stanton:

We, the members of the Wesleyan Classical Studies Major Committee, are deeply disheartened that the university has chosen to not offer Dr. Serena Witzke any sort of long-term professorship at the end of the academic year. Dr. Witzke has been a visiting professor at Wesleyan for seven years, and during her time here she has become a favorite professor of many, both majors and non-majors. She frequently teaches popular, interdisciplinary, and innovative classes such as “Classical Allusions in Film” (CLST228), “Beware the Ides, Beware the Hemlock: Roleplaying Crisis in Ancient Greece and Rome (FYS)” (CLST190F), and “Classics Beyond Whiteness” (CLST249) which are consistently overenrolled. These cutting-edge classes address the most contemporary developments in Classical Studies, reflecting Professor Witzke’s status as one of the field’s current trailblazers and a leading academic pioneer in her field. Her seminal work, “Harlots, Tarts, and Hussies? A Problem of Terminology for Sex Labor in Roman Comedy,” is a foundational text at the intersection of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Classical Studies, and won the Women’s Classical Caucus Barbara McManus Award for Best Published Article. Professor Witzke is revolutionizing the field of Classical Studies, and we are dismayed that the university would want to let go of someone who is an inspiring teacher and an eminent scholar.

Furthermore, we ask not only that Wesleyan reconsider its position regarding Professor Witzke, but that it reaffirm its commitment to an independent Classical Studies Department. As the Classical Studies Major Committee, we fear that the university intends to continue leaving the department understaffed. As it stands, the school has shown reluctance to replace outgoing faculty in any permanent way. In addition to the scheduled loss of Professor Witzke, Professor Andy Szegedy-Maszak has indicated that he will be retiring in the near future. We are very concerned, therefore, that the administration will allow the department to dwindle until it is too severely understaffed to exist as an independent body. We feel that the impact of the Classical Studies Department on the larger school community is vastly under-appreciated. Classical Studies is a multidisciplinary field, and collaborates or supports a broad range of departments through shared speakers, cross-listed classes, or interdisciplinarity, especially COL, FGSS, History, Philosophy, English, Religion, Archaeology, and Medieval Studies. Furthermore, many Classical Studies courses are filled and overfilled with non-majors, providing the open curriculum that Wesleyan prides itself on. We have written this letter as students deeply invested in this department, without the involvement of the faculty. We ask for a sign of your commitment, and we hope that you will continue supporting the department.

Respectfully,

The Classical Studies Major Committee