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McMaster proposes Art History phase-out

Thursday, February 4th 2010

The faculty of Humanities has proposed a gradual ‘phase-out’ of the Art History program but the decision now rests in the hands of the university administration.

A Facebook group called “Stop phasing out the McMaster Art History Program” and an online petition against the removal of the program were created early this week. The online petition now features over 200 signatures.

SRA Humanities Joe Finkle explained, “The SRA Humanities representatives had a meeting last year to talk about various issues. And the Associate Dean [of Humanities], Dean Wright, told us that Art History was up for review.”

The McMaster Daily News has made references to the program’s proposed phase-out. According to their website, a newly expanded bachelor of fine arts will offset the loss of the art history degree. Art history courses would become the main component in the new bachelor of fine arts degree. Although the Bachelor and Honours Bachelor degrees in art history would no longer exist, it would still be possible to take specific courses in the field and to acquire a minor in art history.

The proposed changes are expected to be complete within three years.

SRA Humanities Matthew Dillon-Leitch made note of a discrepancy in the proposed transformation of the arts program: fine arts is more of an applied practice that requires a valid artistic ability that art history does not. In art history, “you don’t have to draw or anything,” said Dillon-Leitch. “You have to look at images and you have to look at trends, it’s the history of art and how that’s affected society.”

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Speaking solely on behalf of herself, President of the Art History Society Haleigh Fox stated, “I completely disagree with the phasing out of the program.”

“As stated in today’s article on McMaster Daily News, Hamilton is an artist’s city and we should be taking advantage of that,” continued Haleigh, a Fine Arts and Art History student. “While I am happy to hear of some interest in the Arts program at McMaster, it makes no sense whatsoever to phase out the Art History Honours BA.”

Dillon-Leitch stated that he first heard the news regarding the phase-out a few weeks ago during a McMaster Humanities Society meeting. “At that point the president of the [MHS] society said that he met [with the Dean] and talked with him briefly, and [that the Dean] actually gave us no details and said that he would schedule another meeting with him.”

“The meeting was never scheduled,” concluded Dillon-Leitch. “I think [the president of the MHS society] met with [the Dean] maybe yesterday or the day before and talked to him actually about something completely unrelated…so we have taken it upon ourselves to go meet with the Dean.”

The SRA representatives for Humanities and Social Sciences will be hosting an open forum on Feb. 11 in Council Chambers, Gilmour Hall in which they hope to answer any questions humanities and social science students have. “We understand that [the issue of the phase-out] might actually take over the conversation when it comes to the actual debate, which is totally fine,” said Dillon-Leitch.

Fox revealed that she had chosen McMaster largely because of the specific program and diversity the school offered. She concluded by saying: “The most unfortunate part of the situation is now I have to tell prospective students to look at different school if they have any interest in an Art History degree.”