Save Comparative Literature at University of Toronto

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The University of Toronto has recommended that the Centre for Comparative Literature be disestablished as of 2011. The Centre, founded in 1969 by Northrop Frye, is the premier site for the study of comparative literature in Canada, and the home of three past presidents of the Modern Language Association of America (Northrop Frye, Mario Valdйs, and Linda Hutcheon). The Centre will no longer be able to admit students to the PhD or MA degrees and it will be reduced to a collaborative, non-degree-granting program in a School for Languages and Literatures. Such a move has grave implications for the role of literature and the humanities in the academy.

In todays globalized, multicultural world, the discipline of comparative literature is more important than ever. In its crossing of cultural, disciplinary and linguistic borders, in its self-reflexive and critical modes of thinking about literature and culture, the research nurtured by the Centres faculty and students is crucial for a full engagement with the complexities of a multipolar, multinational world, and has important implications for the practice of other disciplines. Such research cannot be done in national language and literature departments.

We, the undersigned, urge David Naylor, the President of the University of Toronto, to reverse the recommendation to close the Centre and to maintain the long international tradition of excellence and innovation of the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto.

6593 Signatures

  • Santiago Slabodsky
    • Position
    • assistant professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Claremont School of Theology/Graduate University
  • Helena Allan
    • Position
    • Student
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Queen's University
  • Nicole Go
    • Position
    • MA student
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Toronto, East Asian Studies
  • Tim August
    • Position
    • Phd Candidate/Instructor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Minnesota
  • Natalie Pendergast Allan
    • Position
    • Ph.D. Student
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Toronto
  • Melissa Licht
    • Position
    • Ph.D. Candidate/Instructor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Minnesota
  • David M. Halperin
    • Position
    • Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Michigan
  • Helen H. Davis
    • Position
    • Assistant Professor of English
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Wilkes University
  • Jonathan A. Allan
    • Position
    • PhD Candidate
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
  • Stanley Corngold
    • Position
    • Professor Emeritus
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Princeton University
  • J. Scott Miller
    • Position
    • Professor of Japanese and Comparative Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Brigham Young University
  • Baryon Tensor Posadas
    • Position
    • PhD
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Toronto
  • david james
    • Position
    • professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • USC
  • Leigh Cunningham
    • Position
    • Librarian
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Medicine Hat College/U of T grad
  • julia watson
    • Position
    • Professor and Associate Dean
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Ohio State University
  • Claus Clьver
    • Position
    • Professor emeritus of Comparative Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Indiana University, Bloomington IN
  • Margaret R. Higonnet
    • Position
    • Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Connecticut
  • Peggy Kamuf
    • Position
    • Professor of French and Comparative Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Southern California
  • Maurice Stevens
    • Position
    • Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Studies
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • the Ohio State University
  • Leigh Cunningham
    • Position
    • Librarian
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Medicine Hat College/U of T grad
  • Sean Gurd
    • Position
    • Associate Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Concordia University
  • Tyler Nash
    • Position
    • Student, Comparative Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Western Ontario
  • Teresa Heffernan
    • Position
    • Associate Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Saint Mary's University
  • Michiel Bot
    • Position
    • PhD student, ABD
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • New York University, Department of Comparative Literature
  • Jean BESSIERE
    • Position
    • Professor, Comparative LIterature, ICLA Past President
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Sorbonne (Paris III)
  • Barry Shank
    • Position
    • Professor, Comparative Studies
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • The Ohio State University
  • Panivong Norindr
    • Position
    • Chair, Department of Comparative Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Southern California
  • Deborah Cohn
    • Position
    • Associate Professor of Spanish and American Studies
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Indiana University Bloomington
  • Sabra J.Webber
    • Position
    • Associate Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • The Ohio State University
  • Froma Zeitlin
    • Position
    • Professor (Emerita)
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Princeton University
  • Susan C. Jarratt
    • Position
    • Chair, Comparative Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of California, Irvine
  • Karen Valihora
    • Position
    • Associate Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • York University
  • Patrick Dove
    • Position
    • Associate Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Indiana University
  • Patricia Dailey
    • Position
    • Assistant Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Columbia University
  • Nasrin Rahimieh
    • Position
    • Maseeh Chair and Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of California, Irvine
  • Jane O. Newman
    • Position
    • Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • UC Irvine
  • Sung-sheng Yvonne Chang
    • Position
    • Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • The University of Texas at Austin
  • Professor Kenneth Calhoon
    • Position
    • Professor of Comparative Literature and German
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Oregon
  • Marketa Russell Holtebrinck
    • Position
    • PhD student
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Toronto
  • Salahuddin Rafiquddin
    • Position
    • Student
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Toronto
  • Rodney Carter
    • Position
    • UofT MISt 2005
  • Barnaby Clunie
    • Position
    • Manager, Communications
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Adastra Corporation
  • Leah MIddlebrook
    • Position
    • Associate Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Oregon
  • Eileen Reeves
    • Position
    • Professor
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Princeton University
  • Rachel Freedman Stapleton
    • Position
    • PhD Student
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Toronto
  • Svetlana Boym
    • Position
    • Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Harvard University
  • Sheila Murnaghan
    • Position
    • Professor of Classical Studies
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Pennsylvania
  • Rey Chow
    • Position
    • Anne Firor Scott Professor of Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Duke University
  • Leonard Barkan
    • Position
    • Class of 1943 University Professor, Chair, Department of Comparative Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • Princeton University
  • George Z Gasyna
    • Position
    • Assistant Professor, Slavic Languages and Literatures and Program in Comparative & World Literature
    • Institutional Affiliation
    • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign