Brandeis’s move to cut music PhD programs reverberates – The Boston Globe

As a result, it’s extremely difficult for many people who complete these graduate degrees to find employment in their field, and even if Brandeis’s music department has a good “record of placing PhDs in academic jobs,” as Eric Chasalow and Emily Frey write in their op-ed, many such jobs may be low-paid, short-term, or part-time positions.

Brandeis has made a smart move; its music faculty ought to stop worrying about the status value of offering a PhD program, stop contributing to the PhD glut, and start devoting more time to teaching the undergraduates, many of whom are paying $64,000 a year in tuition.

Ben Givan

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The writer is an associate professor of music at Skidmore College.

School may save some money, but at what cost?

The recent decision by the Brandeis administration to terminate such a nationally respected music PhD program is a great disappointment, especially given the touted goals of a university that heretofore has staunchly supported the pursuit of academics in the creative arts in addition to the sexier programs in the sciences.

The Slosberg Music Center today is the same building it was when I attended Brandeis in the early 1970s — it is clearly a department that has done more with relatively less. Yet during the same period, the science complex has grown tremendously, adding multiple medical research center buildings. It is now a complex that dominates the campus in acreage and square footage.

As professors Eric Chasalow and Emily Frey point out in their op-ed, “Why is the music PhD program being cut from Brandeis?” the cost of funding the music PhD program is relatively small: About $300,000 in stipends supports 14 graduate students. One wonders whether the administration truly appreciates the accomplishments of this department, which boasts one of its most highly ranked PhD programs, according to the university’s own internal review. Brandeis will save money, but at what cost?

Almost 15 years ago Brandeis proposed to close its Rose Art Museum and sell off its collection of contemporary art to raise much-needed money for the school. After much protest, the university came to its senses and reversed the decision. It is time for Brandeis to hit pause and and heed the appeal of the music department and its faculty.

Barry Ehrlich

Newton

The writer is a member of the 1974 Brandeis graduating class.

Higher ed needs to scale back the corporate model and support liberal arts

The fate of two viable PhD programs at Brandeis is the latest in a number of instances in higher education that point to the need for administrators and their myriad consultants to pare back on the corporate model. Departments and curriculums have been cut in the liberal arts, administrative salaries and consultants’ fees have soared, and many students are burdened with debt.

Cutting two PhD programs in music at Brandeis is unconscionable. It is akin to what is happening at West Virginia University with its cutting of world languages and linguistics. The liberal arts are essentially the palm in the educational hand. Without them, there are no advances in science, law, medicine, business, and other ostensibly more profitable endeavors. Administrators have to recognize and appreciate this core and fund it as well as they do all aspects of the university. We need to return to a model where universities maintain support for programs across departments.

James R. Weiss

Salem

The writer is an adjunct professor of history at Lesley University.