Modern Greek, one of the classics deemed essential to education at the noted University of Cambridge in England, could be suspended for lack of funding.
Unless more money is found by the end of the academic year, the teaching of Greek, one of the cornerstones of the university’s educational essence, will end with the retirement of the current Lewis-Gibson lecturer Prof. David Holton in September, according to the school newspaper The Cambridge Student.
Holton holds the only permanent teaching position in the Modern Greek department and university officials said they need new sources of funding to continue teaching Greek. Holton told the Greek TV SKAI that the Greek language is an important part of the world’s culture.
He has called for an online petition to try to raise money to keep the course, and the Greek language, alive in the curricula at Cambridge, one of the world’s top 10 universities. The petition urges the school “in the strongest possible terms” to “reconsider their projected suspension of Modern Greek as a degree subject.” The drive got more than 13,500 signatures over the last few weeks.
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