Students worry layoff signals shift in government department

Some government and politics students are questioning the future direction of their department after news that the only professor specializing in Latin America and the Caribbean will not be returning to the university next year.

Dorith Grant-Wisdom has lectured at the university for 16 years and is one of the few faculty members teaching courses on the developing world and globalization outside of the Middle East. Students fear her departure signals a trend in the department away from Latin America and underrepresented viewpoints. They also expressed concerns about a growing number of quantitative courses.

Grant-Wisdom, who was born and raised in Jamaica and has traveled widely throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, declined to elaborate on her departure. She will teach courses in the spring.

"In accordance with the requirements of my last contract, I had to resign July 2, 2010," she said.  "But I don't wish to comment further."

Officials from the behavioral and social sciences college also declined to comment on Grant-Wisdom's termination, but they said the department will retain professors who focus on the Third World and have studied Latin America.

Students said Grant-Wisdom introduced them to unique ideas and that her absence would leave a gaping hole in the content covered by the major.

"She really provides a Third World perspective. In her classes, you're challenged to think of the United States the way other countries in the world think about the United States," said senior government and politics major Sana Javed. "Not every student can handle that.  But if you're not going to be challenged in college, where will you be challenged?"

For some, the news drew emotional reactions.

"I could seriously tear up right now if I knew the rumors [that Grant-Wisdom was not returning] were true," said Joi Hosley, also a senior government and politics major.  "She's one of my favorite professors."

Andrew Nazdin, an undergraduate teaching assistant for Grant-Wisdom and a senior government and politics major, said he wasn't comfortable with the direction he thinks the department is taking.

"I've gone through registration seven, eight times now," he said. "And it's pretty apparent that the course offerings are moving away from things that don't conform with the dominant political theory."

He also expressed concerns about the growing focus on what he called "numbers-based" classes, adding that the government and politics offerings for next semester look a little dry.

"We're seeing more and more quantitative classes, classes about research and methods, voting patterns, game theory," Nazdin said. "They're really valuable and provide really good points of view, but they aren't presenting the whole story of what international relations is."

While officials acknowledged a proposal to increase the number of quantitative classes, they insisted it won't come at the cost of other courses. And they denied Grant-Wisdom's departure signaled a shift away from courses teaching students about the developing world.

"We have people that do China, people who do post-Soviet, people who do the Middle East," government and politics chairman Mark Lichbach said. He also said the department doesn't have a weakness in Latin America and pointed to several professors who have done research there.

But none of these professors have recently taught classes on the region, and Wayne McIntosh, a government and politics professor who is serving as the interim assistant dean of the behavioral and social sciences college, confirmed Latin American and the Caribbean weren't a major focus of the department — for now.

On what the focus of the department is, however, McIntosh remained vague.

"There are multiple strengths in the government and politics department," he said. "The department takes a lot of pride in teaching undergraduates well and preparing undergraduates for what comes next."

The provost has approved funding for three new faculty members specializing in comparative politics, and administrators said one of these recruits might fill the void left by Grant-Wisdom. The hiring process is expected to be finalized in the winter months.

apino at umdbk dot com