RICHARD JANKO,
Sir, - It is amazing that the spokesman for the management of Queen's University Belfast, in seeking to defend its decision to axe Latin, Greek and classical studies (The Irish Times, August 29th), repeats the claim that there is no student demand for these subjects. According to the July newsletter of the local Association of University Teachers, the dean gave the council on June 21st "figures on student load which, after the meeting, he admitted were erroneous" (my italics).
Since the ground given for the closure was an alleged lack of student demand, the council members' vote must have depended on this incorrect information. Their vote, based on these erroneous figures, influenced the vote of the Senate on June 25th, as the AUT attests.
The university can't say that Classics costs much - there are only three people teaching it. But the public outcry against its decision proves how much is at stake in cultural and educational terms. The fundamental value which a University upholds is the search for truth and removal of error - or so one thought. QUB must now not only admit the error in its grounds for closing Classics but reconsider its decision to do so. - Yours, etc.,
RICHARD JANKO, Professor of Greek, University College London.