Last month, the College approved and guaranteed funding for a Foreign Study Program in Fez, Morocco for a one-year trial period in the Fall term.
James Wright, then Dean of Faculty, notified Dale Eickelman, anthropology professor and Asian studies program co-chair, on Dec. 16 that the College was committed to seeing the program go through.
Wright told Eickelman that Dartmouth will use internal college funds set aside for new programs to fund the FSP for the first year. It will become the College's first off-campus program in the Middle East.
Eickelman, a driving force behind the proposed FSP said he was pleased with its approval.
"I feel great about it," Eickelman said. "I know the [College] has to make hard choices these days and I'm glad they see it is an important initiative."
But Wright, now Acting College President, said the College would postpone the search for permanent funding until a later date, Eickelman said.
Eickelman said he is currently "keeping eyes out on all sources" for possible permanent funding.
The Committee of Chairs, made up of department chairs and program heads, unanimously approved the FSP on Dec. 5, said French and Italian Professor Virginia Swain, chair of the Committee of Chairs Committee on Organization and Policy.
"The interesting aspect of the FSP is its potential for being interdisciplinary," Swain said. "It has the potential to draw people studying from a variety of disciplines such as Francophone literature or Islamic studies."
Eickelman indicated there was much faculty support for the program and many interested students voiced interest in attending the FSP.
Eickelman said he would lead the 15-student program for the first year.
"I will lead the program in Fez in Fall 1995 and will serve as the Fez FSP director for at least five following years, although other faculty will teach in the FSP in Fez itself," Eickelman said.
Last May several Asian Studies professors proposed forming a new FSP in Fez due to the lack of an off-campus program in the Middle East.
The proposal for the FSP gained provisional approval for one year from all the requisite committees starting last spring, including the Asian Studies Steering Committee, the full Asian Studies faculty, the Committee on Off-Campus Activities and the Committee on Instruction.
Eickelman has worked periodically in Morocco since 1969 on several grants and has written two books on the country.
The FSP will be associated with the American Language Institute in Fez. Students will take three courses -- Anthropology 43: Thought and Change in the Middle East and Central Asia, Asian Studies 32: Arabic as a Cultural System and Asian Studies 33: Discovering an Islamic City: Fez.
To qualify for the Fez FSP, students must complete one of the following five courses: Anthropology 43, History 69: The Eye of the Beholder: Introduction to the Islamic World, History 71: Social History of the Contemporary Middle East, Religion 8: Topics in the Study of Islam and Religion 22: Modern Islam.
Students will also be eligible if they have completed the first-year language sequence in Arabic.
Students who take Anthropology 43 at Dartmouth and subsequently attend the FSP will pursue an independent study in Fez instead of taking the course.
The proposal has gone back to the Committee on Instruction to determine which requirements of the new curriculum, effective with the Class of 1998, are satisfied by two of the Fez courses.
