I regret to say that I am not surprised at what has happened to Dr. Anne Simon in Bristol, as deplorable, immoral, and demoralizing as that will be to colleagues throughout the field. For what it is worth: many of us here in the United States are shaking our heads at what is going on in the United Kingdom with respect to German Studies, in particular. As a former guest professor at the University of Stirling (1990-1991), at a time when the German Department was thriving under the leadership of my dear friends, Brian Murdoch, and then Bruce Thompson — and when I went so far as to say that, were a position open, I would be honored to apply for it — I was dismayed to see it wither on the vine to the point that it no longer exists. (As far as I am concerned, Stirling has become an excellent institution for sports education and business, but it would have lost some time back, I am sure, its accreditation in the States as a University.) One hears (but hardly believes) that Oxford and Cambridge no longer require foreign languages for admission. A new twist to Spenglers /Der Untergang des Abendlandes/, if that is true.
I applaud your efforts, and those of your colleagues, on behalf of Dr.
Simon. Fine medievalists were once revered in the United Kingdom. To call them “redundant,” and particularly when this is uttered from the mouth of a Classical scholar turned bureaucrat, is repugnant. (I am restraining myself, difficult for an Irishman [born in Belfast], from employing some other epithets.] I’m afraid, however, that all of this will be small comfort to our colleague, Dr. Simon, whom I can only wish only the very best and for whom I hope another door will open soon, one that does not lead to the academic version of Dante’s Hell, but rather Milton’s /Paradise Regained/.