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Michigan State's religion department in danger
By Erik Lords/Knight Ridder Newspapers
With just 31 students majoring in religious studies, administrators at Michigan State University in East Lansing are about to assess whether it makes sense to keep the subject matter as an independent department with five professors.
Some faculty members are angry at the prospect that the department might be downgraded or eliminated. The student paper, the State News, editorialized against a change last week.
"If we were to go down to a program, the faculty would be scattered in different departments," MSU professor John Hinnant said. "Getting rid of a department is a major act, but getting rid of a program can happen pretty quietly."
The department offers about 10 courses each semester, including "Myth, Self and Religion" and covering Islam, Judaism, African religions, Hinduism and Christianity. Hundreds of MSU students take the courses, but few have made the topic their major. The 31 religious studies majors compare, for example, with 850 concentrating in English.
Wendy Wilkins, dean of MSU's College of Arts and Letters, which includes religious studies, said she wanted to downgrade the department to a program after she became dean in 1998. She said Wednesday she has an open mind on the issue.
Wilkins plans internal and external reviews of the department. Her concerns are based on the low number of majors in the department and its performance, she said. A decision will be made in the 2002-03 school year.
If MSU's department were downsized, the seniority status of some professors could change because they'd move to other departments such as anthropology or sociology. But students would still be able to major in religious studies.
Wilkins said having more professors from different disciplines teaching about religion might make the program stronger.
"Whether something is offered as a program or a department doesn't correlate with whether it is a strong" unit, she said.
Students lamented the possible change.
"The religious studies department is an important piece of the university," said religious studies major Victor Burt. "This is sad, because you would lose the intimacy between students and faculty if we were downgraded."
In December, Wilkins replaced Hinnant with Lewis Siegelbaum as the department chairperson. Siegelbaum also chairs the Department of History.
Hinnant said his demotion, which will cost him $12,000 in annual salary, is proof that Wilkins wants to turn the department into a program, noting that his replacement is not a religious studies specialist.
Wilkins declined to elaborate, saying: "The department chairs who are doing a good job tend to stay in their jobs."
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