Officials in the religion department, as well as the Divinity School, are considering new ways to administer the graduate program in religion following an external review that recommended its reorganization.
Although they are taking small steps toward bettering the program--such as collaborating with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and fostering increased student input--they must still decide on its ultimate direction.
Director of Graduate Studies Eric Meyers said one of the largest problems identified by the external review remains--a gap in rigor between the programs for religion graduate students and theology master's students.
"It's not an equal playing field," Meyers said. "[The religion students] feel gypped with the level of classes."
Meyers said the religion program is one of the most competitive in the University, with the highest GRE scores and high selectivity, more so than the master of theological studies, or the master of divinity degrees.
But Willie Jennings, dean for academic affairs at the Divinity School, said in every setting, there will be more advanced students and less advanced students.
"It does not break down along the master-doctoral divide," Jennings said. "It really breaks down in terms of the progression of students. In some classes, you [might not have] a predominance of students ready to engage the subject matter at the highest level. That's the case in any course."
The solution to any potential gap may be a better relationship between Divinity and religion, something top University administrators agree is important.
Meyers said the best religion graduate programs--such as those at Harvard University and Yale University--are tied to divinity schools, but that those divinity schools are more academic in nature and not tied to a specific denomination.
"There's a fundamental difference in the way we view our home in the academe," Meyers said. "We have competing visions of the academe." He noted that the Divinity School's goal is a professional one, while the graduate program's goal is that of research and teaching. He said the ideal solution would be to have separate classes for graduate students.
To better the program for religion students, Meyers is considering combining the department's resources with UNC-CH for non-Western traditions, something that will allow more in-depth study in those areas, despite a small faculty. The religion department already has ties to UNC-CH in Islamic Studies, Judaic Studies and American Christianity.
"We could advertise real strength together if they have a common strength," said Lewis Siegel, dean of the Graduate School. "Neither had sufficient strength in [non-Western] programs and it's an area of great interest, particularly after Sept. 11."
The Executive Council of the Graduate Faculty passed a resolution strongly urging the religion graduate program to define itself into more focused subfields--currently there are nine, ranging from Judaic Studies to religion in modernity.
"We were concerned that the proposal for nine subfields in the recently adopted bylaws by the religion program may create a situation in which some smaller subfields would find it more difficult to get support," Surin said.
Still, the program will continue with the nine fields.
Administrators have been quicker to address concerns raised by graduate students in their response to the external review. The religion department has added a set of lockers, established a graduate student council and adopted a new advising system.
"I think it's been pretty positive," said James Thrall, a graduate student in religion who serves on the new council. "To a great extent, I think there were needs that simply had to be identified. It's not that the graduate faculty were not considerate of our needs. They were just not aware of them."
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