East Campus has long been known as a home for freshmen. But it in the future, it may also become a hub for the humanities.
Recent discussion may place the Department of Romance Studies--forced out of its West Campus location for an expansion of Perkins Library--in the building that currently houses the Duke University Museum of Art, scheduled to move with the opening of the Nasher Museum of Art. And several other humanities departments have applied for space in a newly acquired warehouse off East Campus.
Faculty had mixed reaction to what seems an inevitable cluster of humanities departments on East.
"I believe it probably depends on who is near whom and for what reasons," said David Bell, romance studies chair. "I don't think you necessarily make that happen by making decisions of where people go, but through discussions about where people should be. It's not quite like, OBuild them and they will come'.... Nothing is automatic."
History department chair John Thompson said his unit has been in the Carr Building on East since 1997.
"It would be fun to have [more humanities] on East Campus with us, all kinds of intellectual synchronism," he said. "I'd have to say we'd welcome them with open arms."
Richard Riddell, chair of theater studies, said collaboration is easier when colleagues are down the hall and that he found the atmosphere in Lilly Library and on East in general to be pleasurable.
But some professors said access to Perkins remains particularly important. Thompson cited the history department's difficulty in recruiting majors, possibly due in part to its location. "There's this notion--that I don't subscribe to--that if you're not on West, if you're not there, you're square," Thompson said.
Although the University's long-term plan does not emphasize the humanities as much as the natural sciences, several initiatives are under way, such as the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, the development of Americas Studies and a renewed emphasis on the arts through the creation of the Nasher museum and the theater studies department.
The crown jewel of space, however, may be the former tobacco warehouse the University bought last April from Liggett Group, Inc. The $2 million building, located near the bridge and facilities plant off East, includes about 200,000 square feet inside and eight acres of surrounding land.
Administrators have yet to decide what will go into the warehouse, but the film and video program and the classical studies, art and art history, and music departments have all expressed interest.
Karla Holloway, dean of the humanities and social sciences, said she envisions an interdisciplinary space where visual arts, video, music and technology come together in new ways. Humanities chairs are meeting this semester to discuss the space.
"One of the things we're going to be doing is the new graphic design studio, making possible for students in music, film and video, maybe even theater, to collaborate," said Patricia Leighten, chair of art and art history.
The campus has always had a humanist tint to it, as the longtime home to the music, art and art history, and literature programs. "It certainly has a tradition of that, going back to the Woman's College," Riddell said.
Developed between 1925 and 1927 to accommodate the women's campus, East has served as an addition to West since 1972, when the Woman's College was integrated into Trinity. In 1994, it became the residential base for all freshmen.
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