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Dear friends, I just received this troubling message by way of the Pontifical Institute mailing list. I would especially urge colleagues who are in the UK to write in protest of this decision. Abigail -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Fw: Paleography to be eliminated at King's College London Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010 09:55:46 -0500 From: Barbara North <[log in to unmask]> Organisation: University of Toronto To: Barbara North <[log in to unmask]> ----- Original Message ----- *From:* Aden Kumler <mailto:[log in to unmask]> *To:* Barbara North <mailto:[log in to unmask]> *Sent:* Saturday, January 30, 2010 12:01 PM *Subject:* Paleography to be eliminated at King's College London Dear Barbara, would you please send the message below to the PIMS mailing list. It concerns a grave situation at King's College London that will be of pressing concern to the PIMS community. Dear Colleagues, Please see below an email from Jeffrey Hamburger, and a letter forwarded by him, that together summarize the terrible news regarding the elimination of the Chair in Paleography at King's College London (the only endowed chair in paleography in the UK) as part of a larger financial re-organization scheme. I hope you will take a few minutes to write a letter asserting that the teaching of paleography is essential for the future of medieval studies and to strongly urge Professor Rick Trainor, the Principal of King's College, to revisit the (terrible) decision that has been taken. Please do not delay: time is of the essence! Letters should be sent to Professor Trainor and copied to Professor Jan Palmowski, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities. The relevant mailing addresses are provided in the last line below. With my best wishes, Aden Kumler _Forwarded message from Jeffrey Hamburger:_ Dear colleagues, The letter below brings bad news. I normally do not leap into such petition drives, but in this case I think it behooves all of us to read it and to act on it by writing a stiff letter of protest to the persons named as quickly as possible. If you, in turn, know of other groups (beyond Apices, whence this comes) to which this could be circulated, please do so immediately. Yours, Jeffrey Hamburger King’s College London is undertaking what they call ‘strategic disinvestment’ and have informed our colleague, David Ganz, on Tuesday that funding for the Chair in Palaeography will cease from 31 August this year, when David will be out of a job. This is part of a wider context whereby all academic staff in the School of Arts and Humanities at King’s have to re-apply for their own jobs before the 1st March. They think this the “most humane way” of losing 22 academic posts. King’s Chair is the only established chair in Palaeography in the UK (held by our late members Julian Brown and Tilly de la Mare). I am, naturally, writing on behalf of the Comite to express dismay at the loss of the Chair but the more people who write in protest the better. Please write to Professor Rick Trainor, The Principal, King’s College, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS and copy to Professor Jan Palmowski, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities. Aden Kumler Assistant Professor Department of Art History University of Chicago 266 Cochrane Woods Art Center 5540 South Greenwood Avenue Chicago, IL 60637 tel: 773.702.0266 / fax: 773.702.5901 -- Abigail Ann Young (Dr), Associate Editor/ Records of Early English Drama/ 170 St George St Ste. 810/ Toronto Ontario Canada/ M5R 2M8 Telephone: 416-978-6500 (after 04/01/2010) / FAX: 416-978-6504 (as of 16/12/2009) [log in to unmask] List-owner of REED-L <http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/reed-l.html> http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/ => REED's home page http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/stage.html => our Web guide http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~young => my home page