Among the most important recent decisions made at Rensselaer is the proposed non-renewal of the contracts of Lucien Gerber (the only professor of French), Misa Dubrawski (the only professor of Japanese), Tong Shen (the only professor of Chinese), and Julie Gutmann (the only professor of creative writing and a professor of literature courses). What that means is that foreign language, creative writing, and a considerable amount of literature teaching at Rensselaer will cease to exist. Some propose replacement by outsourcing, but outsourcing will not help those many students whose demanding schedules (often including employment) make leaving campus to take courses elsewhere prohibitive from the standpoint of time and energy.

We write as the only remaining professors of literature at this Institute, though we are also committed to teaching courses that support other programs and so teach literature only some of the time. We write to explain why the non-renewal of these colleagues’ contracts would be an irreparable loss for current and future students at Rensselaer. Among the most important needs of students for their future careers are reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking. All of these courses provide experience in interpretive reading, small group communication, and critical analysis. Courses in creative writing and literary study help form writing capabilities in such areas as the generation of ideas, organization, style, and mechanics. Courses in foreign language help us become aware that we cannot truly know our own language without knowing another.

The reading carried out in creative writing, literature, and foreign language courses enables students to learn about local, regional, national, and international cultures—both past and present. Through a process of comparison and contrast, students not only learn about these cultures (and their own) but also develop a tolerance for cultural difference. They become more adept at negotiating the professional, political, and personal worlds that confront them in an age of increasing globalization. With a grasp of foreign languages and a sophisticated awareness of cultural difference, students enhance their professional mobility and opportunity, their diplomatic possibilities, and the pleasures of personal travel. Students will find it more difficult to “change the world” if they do not understand it and cannot communicate with it.

The reading in these courses provides students with an inexhaustible range of other learning and also enriches their lives by providing experiences that they can have in no other way. The joys of poems, novels, dramas, and essays can be among the treasures of their lives. They can help make lives worth living. They can lead minds into the imaginations of others and transform them, expanding and shaping personalities. With such experiences, students could well understand why one notable writer would say that paradise must be a kind of library.

Since Gerber, Dubrawski, Shen, and Gutmann are such excellent teachers, losing them will also mean the loss of a substantial body of first-rate teaching at the university. Gutmann, to take just one example, is a university favorite and one of those remarkable teachers whom students plan ahead to fit into their schedules. Students from her creative writing courses help make important institutions at Rensselaer, such as the literary magazine Statler & Waldorf and the campus-wide McKinney Creative Writing Contest, so successful. Even when teaching literature courses, Gutmann infuses them with the unique sensibility of a creative writing teacher.

Another important ability nurtured by excellent teaching in humanities courses is ethical judgment. In a world in which so many people have been seriously damaged by the unscrupulous behavior of a few, the need for ethical discernment is stronger than ever. Students with this ability will be able to see that the end of foreign languages, creative writing, and a good portion of literary study at Rensselaer has ethical dimensions.

Merrill Whitburn

Louis Ellsworth Laflin Professor of English

June Deery

Associate Professor of Literature and Media Studies

Ellen Esrock

Associate Professor of Literature and Visual Culture