On October 13, 2019, the SCS Board of Directors approved the following letter addressed to the Board of Directors of the Paideia Institute for Humanistic Study, Inc.
"The Society for Classical Studies joins the American Classical League in expressing deep concern in response to recent public statements regarding the Paideia Institute. Some of those statements are authored by individuals who have been closely associated with Paideia in various capacities and who have now resigned from the Institute. Some of the published allegations are more generally about the Institute’s cultural climate, while others concern specific incidents. All the allegations are serious.
Accordingly, the SCS board of directors has approved a temporary hiatus on new funding for Paideia programs, including but not limited to support via the SCS Minority Scholarships, Coffin Fellowships, and Classics Everywhere micro-grants.
Recently, the SCS has focused attention on the importance on the variety of career paths pursued by those earning a Classics PhD. The Society has held a Career Networking event in 2018 and 2019 at its annual meeting, and will publish this summer a graduate student of edition of "Careers for Classicists", which will provide advice about seeking jobs inside and outside the academy. In recognition of the variety of types of employment open to Classics PhDs and in response to a request by an ad hoc group on graduate student issues, a precursor to the current Graduate Student Committee, the Career Planning and Development Committee has developed the following statement on the importance and value of many different careers. This statement has been endorsed by the SCS Board of Directors.
Statement on Career Paths for those earning the PhD in Classical Studies
Multi-Society Statement on Proposed Cuts at the University of Tulsa
The undersigned associations urge the University of Tulsa to reconsider and rescind its recent recommendations calling for the elimination of undergraduate majors in philosophy, religion, theater, musical theater, music, languages, law, and of several graduate and doctoral programs, including those in anthropology, fine arts, history, and women’s and gender studies and to eliminate undergraduate minors in ancient languages and classical studies.
Letter to President Mary T. Boatwright, President-Elect Sheila Murnaghan, Immediate Past President Joseph Farrell
25 January 2019
Dear colleagues:
The Board of Directors of the Society for Classical Studies (SCS) condemns the racist acts and speech that occurred at the 2019 SCS annual meeting. The Society’s policy on harassment addresses, among other things, hostility and abuse based on race and ethnicity.
This post has recently been updated with a response from Brill.
The SCS Statement on Professional Ethics emphasizes the need for due diligence regarding the provenance of artifacts in many different areas of scholarly work, including initial publications of objects and texts and the management of institutional collections. In recognition of the importance of this issue, the SCS Board of Directors has voted to endorse an open letter on the publication of fragments that were acquired by the Museum of the Bible and published by Brill. You can read the text of the letter below, which was originally published by Dr. Roberta Mazza on November 5, 2018 and signed by many individuals. You can also read the response from Brill, originally published by Dr. Mazza on November 7.
Open letter to Brill: Fake and unprovenanced manuscripts
For the attention of Brill.
The Society for Classical Studies strongly supports the American Historical Association's statement condemning the Polish law criminalizing discussion of Polish complicity in Nazi war crimes during World War II. Open discussion of the events of the past is our own Society's raison d'être. Such discussion cannot be limited to events of which we are proud, nor can we permit those of which we are ashamed to be forgotten. These principles must apply to the study of all periods of history. Our Society's interest in this particular question involves a growing integration between what were once regarded as discrete areas in the study of Mediterranean antiquity, including Greek and Roman studies, Ancient Near Eastern studies, Jewish studies, and other related areas.
In light of the executive order on immigration issued on Friday, January 27, 2017, the Society for Classical Studies publicly reaffirms its commitment to the international community of scholars and to the importance of the free movement of scholarship and ideas. We believe that the selective ban placed on the entry to the United States by individuals of particular nationalities and (in effect) of particular religious beliefs, the suspension of all refugee processing, and the suspension of the Visa Interview Waiver Program are harmful to students, scholars, and academic institutions in this country and, given the importance of the middle eastern region to the study of classical antiquity, of particular concern to our discipline.
The mission of the Society for Classical Studies is “to advance knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the ancient Greek and Roman world and its enduring value.” That world was a complex place, with a vast diversity of peoples, languages, religions, and cultures spread over three continents, as full of contention and difference as our world is today. Greek and Roman culture was shared and shaped for their own purposes by people living from India to Britain and from Germany to Ethiopia. Its medieval and modern influence is wider still. Classical Studies today belongs to all of humanity.
