Informative Links

103 African Writers Respond to Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Nobel Prize Win

by Ainehi Edoro - Brittle Paper, October 12, 2021

‘I Could Do with More Readers!’ Abdulrazak Gurnah on winning the Nobel Prize for literature

Interview with David Shariatmadari - The Guardian, October 11, 2021

UP CLOSE | “It’s hard to sustain your love for Yale when you feel like Yale doesn’t love you back”: Yale’s second-class citizens

by Madison Hahamy - Yale Daily News, April 29, 2021

The Invention of Whiteness: the Long History of a Dangerous Idea

by Robert P Baird - The Guardian, April 20, 2021

A statement from the Yale English Department Faculty on Recent Budget Cuts Affecting

Instructional Faculty and Writing Courses*

Yale has long prided itself on its dedication to deep humanistic learning in a college setting. The university’s recent Report on Trust in Higher Education urges a recommitment to the core values of a liberal arts education. The Report calls on us to take responsibility for critical thinking, to open minds to debate, and to prepare students for successful professional and civic life–in short, to re-center classroom education.

We could not agree more on the importance of these principles. However, we are concerned that they will be undermined by Yale’s recent decision to reduce the budget for its instructional faculty. Here in the English Department, the cuts will make an immediate, negative impact on our capacity to teach creative and expository writing seminars that are integral to our curriculum and foundational for Yale College undergraduates. Although housed in English, seminars such as our flagship composition course ENGL1014 (Expository Writing Seminars), along with ENGL1015 (Literature Seminars) and creative courses such as ENGL 1020 (Reading and Writing the Modern Essay), serve students from across Yale College. These courses allow students to explore the range of human expression both as careful readers and as creative practitioners. They also teach the skills of critical thinking and evidence-based argument. While all these courses have been affected by the cuts, no single class has been harder hit than ENGL1014. In 2024-25, we offered 45 sections. Next year we will be able to offer no more than 35. At the same time, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) has raised the enrollment cap in each section from 12 to 15 students, putting new strain on instructors while compromising the student-focused format that makes the courses effective.

You are here

Informative Links