Letter to the Editor: ‘Sunsetting’ SU’s classics B.A. overlooks its value
The programs SU plans to “sunset” are crucial, our writer claims. She argues the university’s decision, particularly with civilizations programs, will negatively affect students from colleges. Zabdyl Koffa | Staff Photographer
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To the Syracuse University community,
I’d describe my freshman year, 2022-23, as exhausting, uninspired and disconnected. I’d always been drawn to the sciences, but felt little passion for what I was studying at the time, which was pre-med biochemistry. In the fall of my sophomore year, I switched to biology and forensics, which helped me find some of the passion I was searching for, but I still felt as though I was missing a key piece to my higher education puzzle.
Now, by the end of my final semester, I’ll have completed a minor in classical civilizations on top of my dual major program, providing the historical, literary and humanitarian substance I felt was lacking in my education. It led me to discover anthropology as a biological discipline and allowed me to understand the past through the application of science — science we wouldn’t have without classical philosophers and poets.
My previous mindset on science was two dimensional: There’s science, the arts and humanities, and they occasionally overlap but not significantly — a closed mindset many people share.
That was until I registered for a class titled Roman Literature, taught by professor Jeffery Carnes in the Classical Civilizations Department, which was initially going to only fill my humanities sequence. Within the first two weeks of classes, I realized this class would provide far more than just degree requirements, but a new avenue of education that I’d never considered.
“Nothing can be created from nothing”
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, Of the Nature of Things
My introduction to the classical world was Lucretius, a first-century B.C.E. Roman poet and philosopher, who emphasized the acceptance of the natural world and its functions as the driver of life in a world of divine creationism. He built on the work of Greek philosophers such as Democritus, who first used the word atomos (atom) to describe the building blocks of life.
Today, this concept is something we’ve accepted across the board as scientific law.
Being exposed to a whole new world of foundational philosophy and civilization, and discovering the connections within science, was both new and exciting. I’d previously perceived these scientific ideas as modern advancements in understanding the world and medicine — when in reality, they’re ancient concepts that have built off one another continuously over centuries.
Learning the origins of modern science allows us to better understand the development of ideas. In the ancient world, it was paganistic beliefs against science — the divine were in charge of the world around us. Today, we see a similar dichotomy, where political efforts and religion still attempt to undermine science, as seen with aggression toward evolutionary theory and global warming.
Any great educator will stress the importance of learning the history of your discipline. In sociology, we study the history of sociological theory. In political science, we examine the rise and fall of governments. In communications, we explore the history of media industries.
Most don’t realize just how much we inherit from the classical world: atomic theory, the structure of the United States Senate, democracy, civil virtue and countless other ideas spanning medicine, art and beyond.
The Bachelor of Arts in classical civilizations is one of the 93 programs being “sunset” by Syracuse University.
Despite its significance across nearly every field of study, its low enrollment is the university’s determining factor in deciding the program’s fate. Its marketing as a major or minor is consolidated to history classes and vaguely describes it as a study of the classical period. In reality, it’s the study of our origins in education, law, civil life, art, science and global perception — topics that span all colleges at SU.
One can’t help but think that if SU had focused on expanding the scope in which the study of classics could be applied, the program might not be in its current position.
With no plans to re-equip, reorganize or reestablish the classics and classical civilizations program, access to courses that fundamentally support fields across the university will rapidly decrease in the coming years with no promised stability.
While minors are still available for the time being, there’s no solid security for the future of classics on campus as a primary area of study. Even though roughly two-thirds of my higher education career has been spent in classical civilizations, I still feel that a minor in classics isn’t enough.
I will end my time at SU wishing I’d taken more classes, read more epics, discussed more philosophers and made more vibrant connections across scientific principles.
The classical civilizations program has been one of the most important parts of my academic journey. It provided me with the history and humanity that the sciences don’t always offer. It put my discipline in perspective: the science, concepts, laws and theories we treat as truth today have deep roots in classics, and understanding the development of ideas across multiple fields is crucial to the quality of our education.
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child”
Cicero, Orator Ad M. Brutum, Orator
This letter was submitted by Brooke Waldack, senior, biology, forensics and classical civilizations, bawaldac@syr.edu.
