Gair Rhydd 1075 - 7th March 2016

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gair rhydd

gair rhydd | freeword Cardiff ’s student weekly Issue 1075 Monday 7th March 2016 Also in this issue

Comment: The problems facing LGBT+ youth today P18>>

Students express concern over future of Religious Studies course

Politics: Syria ceasefire broken by both sides P26>>

• Only specialist Judaism and Hebrew lecturer will be made redundant • PhD student: “I’m very possibly going to have to change universities because of this. There won’t be any supervision for me here” • University defends decision, stating Hebrew module cannot deliver “appropriately high quality of educational experience” with small number of students EXCLUSIVE Joanna Beck

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he School of History, Archaeology and Religion (SHARE) has come under fire by students in the past two weeks after they announced their only Judaism lecturer will not be returning to the school for the next academic year. The school currently has five Islamic Studies experts, five Christian Studies experts and four that specialise in Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions, in a department that one student has described as “badly weighted” and “bleeding people”. Dr Patmore is the only expert in Judaism in the department and has taught Judaism and Hebrew at Cardiff University for the past three years. If he is removed from the department the university will not be able to offer Hebrew as a language to its any of

its students, meaning they will not be able to study some texts in their original language. After enquires made by Gair Rhydd, Professor Chris Williams, head of SHARE, released a statement about the decision not to renew Dr Patmore’s contract. “Due to the end of external funding of a research post, we have reviewed our degree course modules, and in consultation with senior staff within the Religious Studies department, we have had to take the decision to withdraw the Hebrew language teaching module. “This module attracts fewer than five students per year. Taking on board the feedback from our students, many of whom I have met with over the last few weeks, we have recently confirmed that we will be continuing to offer a 20 credit module in Judaism, a popular choice for our students”. Some students, however, feel this

module will not be on par with the other modules offered as it will not be taught by an expert in the area. Second year student Tyler Higgins expressed these concerns in an email to Professor Williams. “Having discussed this with others, this partial solution doesn’t appear good enough. The teaching of a Judaism 20 credit module is merely ‘window dressing’ without the study of Hebrew language and texts. “It is vital in many students’ opinion that Hebrew language is also taught here. And the loss of the Hebrew language has an even greater impact than the loss of Judaism”. Third year student Frankie Gudiens spoke to Gair Rhydd about how the Judaism Module played a part in her University choices: “My sixth form didn’t offer Judaism to be studied at A Level so when I saw that Cardiff offered one of the world’s major religions it was very appealing to me.

Pictured:

The John Percival Building which houses the School of History, Archaeology and Religion (Photographer: Carwyn Williams)

Continued on page 4

Science: New way developed to give blood without needles P28>>

Taf-Od: Dathliadau Dydd Gwyl Dewi yng Nghaerdydd P40>>


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