Rumors about a significant cutback to or the possible elimination of the theater studies department were dismissed at Thursday's meeting of the Arts and Sciences Council.
There have been talks, however, about changing the structure of the department in some form, said George McLendon, dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences.
He added that the decision would be best left up to the faculty.
"I'm quite sure the department won't be eliminated and quite sure it won't be substantially decimated," McLendon said. "If change in some form is the best way to do theater studies at Duke, we want to do it the best way we can."
He pointed to the literature program, which is not a department but is successful nonetheless, as a potential model for change.
"I'm completely agnostic on whether the best way to [improve theater studies] is as a department, which tends to be have a more insular formation, or as a program, which tends to be of more inclusive formation," he said. "That's the kind of things that the faculty decide, not deans."
McLendon said he has talked with the chair of the department and is open to having discussions in the broader community.
Faculty anxiety remained high, however, leading to impassioned speeches at the meeting about the importance of the arts at the University and calls for an amendment to the Council and University bylaws.
Sarah Beckwith, professor of English with a secondary appointment in theater studies, said the theater studies department is central to the arts initiative on campus.
"What happens to this small unit could dramatically reduce the future of the arts at Duke," she said, noting that theater studies needs more funding and support.
She called for a vote of confidence in the continued existence of the department, which the Council applauded.
Lee Baker, chair of the Council and professor in the department of cultural anthropology, said rumors about the department's elimination have been floating for the last two weeks. They emerged from either the Provost's or President's Office, he said.
After speaking with McLendon and other deans, Baker learned that the short-term future of the department was safe.
"Although it appears that no immediate structural change will take place at this time, the level of faculty anxiety is still too high, questions regarding process linger and clear and effective communication across units broke down," Baker wrote in an e-mail to members of the Council Feb. 7.
Representatives also wanted assurance that the Dean's Office will consult the Council on decisions affecting Trinity College-a stipulation not required constitutionally by the University.
The Academic Council must weigh in on major decisions facing the University before they are brought to the Board of Trustees. In contrast, the Arts and Sciences Council can determine academic decisions facing Trinity College, but it only has an advise-and-consent responsibility to the deans in response to major changes.
"It is time to say nothing that affects Arts and Sciences faculty should happen unless it comes through this body," said Naomi Quinn, professor emeritus of the Department of Cultural Anthropology. "I do worry that down the road there will be some dean that doesn't decide he is going to listen to this body or solicit our opinion. I have lived through enough deans to know that that happens."
She called for a joint committee from the Academic Council and the Arts and Sciences Council to decide how to implement this change.
Paul Haagen, professor in the Law School and chair of the Academic Council, said as of now, the best way for Arts and Sciences Council members to voice their concerns on structural changes is through discourse with Academic Council representatives or with other faculty who are on committees that would help decide the proposal.
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