Only two days after the heads of Dartmouth's academic departments voted to discontinue the English foreign study program in London, English Professor William Spengemann said there is a possibility for a revote which might save the program.
Spengemann, who leads the two-term program at University College London, said a member of the Committee of Chairs who voted to kill the FSP by the 1995-96 academic year has changed his or her mind. Spengemann is not a member of the committee and could not vote in favor of the program.
The committee met Tuesday and voted 14 to 13 to cancel the program. But the rules of order allow a committee member who voted with the majority to a motion to reconsider.
Spengemann said he could not release the name of the professor.
But Economics Professor John Menge, the vice chair of the committee, said the vote would not happen until next fall when the Committee of Chairs next meets.
"It's all hearsay and rumor right now," Spengemann said. "A member of the council told me he went to another meeting with someone who said he/she was reconsidering."
The vote came after the faculty Committee on Off-Campus Programs, chaired by Russian Professor Barry Scherr, sent a letter to the English department which recommended the termination of the program.
Menge and Dean of Faculty James Wright said the vote could be taken up at the next meeting and the committee could reverse the vote and continue the FSP.
"In the fall they could vote again," Menge said. "It would be a new session."
According to the Robert's Rules of Order, the parlimentary procedure the committee follows, a motion would have to be made to reconsider the vote. If a majority of members vote for the motion, the bill would be reconsidered by the committee, Spengemann said.
But Wright said the make-up of the committee will be different at the next meeting, and the result of the vote cannot be predicted.
Spengemann mentioned the professor who might reconsider to students at a meeting Tuesday night for participants in next year's London program.
One of those students, Kathryn Kinkade '95, said she hopes the faculty member changes his or her mind.
Jenn Lien '95, another student who is going on the trip, said she hopes the member of the committee does motion to reconsider the vote to end the program.
"I think it should definitely be kept," she said.
Only 27 faculty members voted out of the 35 faculty and top administrators who sit on the committee.
"Whether or not the motion to reconsider will be made, I just don't know," Spengemann said. "I am not asking for a revote. I can't ask for one."
