True to our motto, "A university without a Classics department with a Latin major is like a body lacking a soul," the Major in Classics at VWU has two tracks: 1) the Latin track, which focuses on the Latin language, and is appropriate for students considering graduate school in Classics or teaching Latin, inter alia; and 2) the Classical Civ track, which demands some language study, but focuses more on Greek and Roman history, archaeology, and literatures in translation. Because of its utility for understanding language, for expressing oneself in writing and in speaking, for parsing technical vocabulary in the STEM disciplines--and because of the benefits of reading Greek and Latin literature in the original language, we are committed to keeping language study (Greek and Latin) at the front and center of our program. For us, our Latin major track is central to VWU's identity as a Liberal Arts institution, and for this reason we regularly check in with our Academic Dean to ensure that our Latin major track is healthy and not threatened with the sorts of cuts which have endangered the Humanities at other institutions. We are grateful to Dean Schaus and Dean Larkin for giving us their word during their tenures as Dean that the Latin major track is and will continue to be an integral part of the curriculum at VWU. We have one full-time tenured Classics faculty member: Benjamin Haller ([email protected]), but hope to hire a second full-time tenure-track faculty member with a specialization in Archaeology soon. Social Media Policy
1) The primary purpose for the Classics Facebook and Instagram accounts is to publicize events, discoveries, performances, and publications at VWU and elsewhere relating to ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and the regions these areas impacted with their cultures. 2) In general, posts should be positive and informational in nature. No posts targeting or portraying in a disrespectful manner any individuals or groups on the basis of ethnicity, religion, race, gender, or sexual orientation are permitted under any circumstances.3) While we recognize that ancient art often involves nudity, and that images of nudity in statues or paintings may appear in advertisements for lectures and events, and that lectures discussing gender and sexuality in the ancient world are a legitimate subject for posting, posts containing inappropriate or gratuitous nudity or sexual content are not permitted under any circumstances.4) Our social media should reflect VWU's commitment to diversity and respectful open public discourse. 5) No posts containing hate speech or threatening language will be tolerated; we recognize that even if a cartoon or joke seems amusing or harmless to one individual, it may cause serious offense to others. Accordingly, we will avoid vitriolic or adversarial political posts, ad hominem attacks on figures public or individual, or negative comments of any sort. 6) At the same time, we embrace balanced coverage of controversies in the field of Classics (the Elgin Marbles, the Obbink/Museum of the Bible controversy, etc.) in established national or international press such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Le Monde, Haaretz; or popular/professional publications on Classics and/or Archaeology such as Archaeology, The American Journal of Archaeology, the SCS blog, etc. VWU's/Batten's Social Media Policy just changed to forbid the use of quotations in email signatures, so we move ours here:
Non potes legere hanc epistulam electronicam, et nimium est tibi dignitatis et mores meliores quam ut Intellegentiae Artficiali consulas? Stude linguae latinae, et lege non solum hanc epistulam pedestrem et ineptam, sed quoque carmina Lucretii, Horatii, Vergilii; de cyclopibus, centauris, umbris, larvis, versipellibus, et sagis fabulas; de itineribus usque ad orbis terrarum fines belli gerendi et novarum provinciarum imperio subiungendarum causā ab ducibus illustribus factis; de vagationibus etiam ad lunam et ad stellas historias; Miltonii nonnulla opera—etiam, si cordi tibi est, fabulam quandam de Catto Illo Petasato! Universitas studiorum classicorum facultate carens--aut in Linguae disciplinā Latinae Baccalaureo Artium carens--est sicut corpus animā destitutum. Quid porro aut praeclarum putet in rebus humanis, qui haec deorum regna perspexerit, aut diuturnum, qui cognoverit, quid sit aeternum, aut gloriosum, qui viderit, quam parva sit terra, primum universa, deinde ea pars eius, quam homines incolant, quamque nos in exigua eius parte adfixi plurimis ignotissimi gentibus speremus tamen nostrum nomen volitare et vagari latissime? Divitias alius fulvo sibi congerat auro
Et teneat culti iugera multa soli,
Quem labor adsiduus vicino terreat hoste,
Martia cui somnos classica pulsa fugent:
Me mea paupertas vita traducat inerti,
Dum meus adsiduo luceat igne focus. Ipse seram teneras maturo tempore vites
Rusticus et facili grandia poma manu.
μνήσομαι οὐδὲ λάθωμαι Ἀπόλλωνος ἑκάτοιο.
