THERE'S CONFLICT AT YALE UNIVERSITY over modernizing the offerings in its wonderful (for the study of antiquity and the Middle Ages) Department of Near Eastern Languages. The Yale Herald reports:

Issues of funding and interdepartmental cooperation have long been sticking points for the NELC department. "Our requests for expansion in the area of modern Near East were systematically and routinely turned down," [Professor Benjamin] Foster said, referring to the department's expansionary efforts during the '70s. According to him, "Requests from other departments to expand in the modern Near East were honored," allowing the history and religious studies departments to add full professorships. "It was cool to do modern Middle East studies, but the only place you couldn't do it was in the Near East department," he said.

Yet departments like history and religious studies, given their broad scope, have limited openings for fully-tenured faculty who specialize in a particular region or area, meaning that most of the professors at Yale who focus on Middle East topics are employed as adjunct or visiting professors. The transient nature of these positions has inevitably hindered the creation of a coherent program at Yale. Furthermore, it can be difficult for NELC majors to get into popular courses outside of the NELC department. David Nitkin, ES '06, said that it is "nearly impossible" to get into popular history seminars as a NELC major, even if the seminar is directly related to NELC studies. NELC majors have also had trouble finding senior essay advisors.

Foster thinks the problem is ultimately tied to funding, the lack of which plagues the deparment, despite growing popularity among undergraduates. "In the struggle for resources, we are still considered a small department with small enrollments," he said. "If you want to know where all the money is being spent, take a walk up Science Hill." Given that recent expansions in the NELC department have focused on the language program, which is what the YCIAS grant specifies, it seems any changes in the department are directly tied to financial constraints. "I see less likelihood in our expanding in history and civilization than expanding in languages and literatures, which is really what we do," Foster said.

They have the difficult job of trying to be relevant to a broad range of students, especially given renewed interest in current events in the Middle East, without succumbing to trendiness and without compromising the integrity of their excellent offerings for the earlier period. I wish them well.