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Brief von Prof. Dr. M. Flier (Harvard) an Rektor
und Unirat
Dear Prof. Dr. Gabler:
I am writing out of concern for your Slavic Seminar, which is apparently
being considered for elimination in the coming academic year. All institutions
of higher education have been affected by the difficult economy and must
look for ways to cut expenses. The liberal arts and languages in particular
are typical targets: they rarely generate colossal enrollments or bring
in large government or private grants with their important indirect costs.
But in eliminating the Slavic Seminar, you remove a vital and productive
program from the Slavic field at a time when all the Slavic countries,
cultures, and languages, particularly in Central Europe, find themselves
at the very center of a newly emerging Europe. It is important that Switzerland
play a central role in the discourses emanating from this geopolitical
evolution.
The Basel Slavic program has earned its place among the most active on
the European scene. Your excellent library of Slavic books and other materials
is an important source for scholars in Central Europe. The conferences
and symposia by the Basel Slavic program have involved major
scholars across Europe, Canada, and the United States. Your innovative
faculty and students, led by Prof. Dr. Andreas Guski, have enriched the
study of modern East European literature and culture and have inspired
the development and growth of new subfields in Slavic studies.
I join many other academic voices here and in Europe in urging you and
your colleagues to resist the idea of eliminating the Slavic Seminar at
the University of Basel. More than ever before, the leaders of higher
education need to shore up the humanities against attempts to view the
world and its problems primarily in economic and technology-based terms.
The Slavic world and the world of humanism need a strong commitment to
Slavic studies in Switzerland and especially in Basel.
Sincerely,
Prof. Dr. Michael S. Flier
Chair
Oleksandr Potebnja Professor of Ukrainian Philology
Harvard University
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