A propos an earlier item from the summer, Donald Ainslie (Toronto) forwards this welcome e-mail from the Centre's Interim Director, Tom Hurka, sent to colleagues at Toronto:
As many of you will know, the recommendation of an Arts and Science Planning Committee that the Centre for Ethics be disestablished was followed by a process of consultation in which the Centre proposed an alternative structure for itself to the Dean. I am pleased to report that that proposal has now been accepted and the recommendation to close the Centre has been withdrawn. Instead, the Faculty has committed to fund the Centre for five years, with the possibility of continued funding beyond that time contingent on, among other things, the Centre's success in raising external funds.
The Faculty's budgetary commitment is smaller than the Centre has enjoyed in the past. It no longer contains funds for Visiting Faulty Fellows and is reduced in other areas as well; in addition, the Centre has ommitted to more involvement in undergraduate teaching, in part through a 4th-year seminar based on its Seminar Series. This has now been approved by the Faculty's Curriculum Committee and will be offered in 2011-12.
The reduction in the Centre's budget will entail some regrettable losses, but given the serious prospect of the Centre's complete closure the fact that it can continue to make its distinctive contributions to interdisciplinary ethics activities on campus is surely a positive thing.
For this result, the Centre is grateful to Dean Meric Gertler for the flexibility he has shown. It also gives its deepest thanks to the many members of its community who wrote the Dean and other University administrators to express their support for the Centre. These messages were heard and I am sure played a large role in securing this positive outcome.
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