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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.c18-l
Date:         Mon, 13 Apr 1992 00:23:54 -0400
From:         "Luis Gamez, Fordham University,
              New York City" <GAMEZ@MURRAY.FORDHAM.EDU>
Subject:      Extra! Extra! on Prof. Leland Peterson
X-To:         C18-L@PSUVM.PSU.EDU

Those of us who are members of ASECS (esp. the East-Central
group) will be pleased to see that the selflessness of one of our
members has been celebrated in a major Newspaper of Record.
Though Leland planned to do good by stealth and may now blush to
find it Fame, I'll post the article as it's enrolled in the
annals of Prince Posterity:

"Ars Gratia Artis: Latin Professor To Teach Free." _New York
Times_ 12 April 1992, late ed.: 52.

Prof. Leland Peterson says he so much wants students at Old
Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., to learn second-year Latin
that he will teach it free of charge.
     "I looked upon it as a modest volunteer effort," said
Professor Peterson, who is an instructor of English at the
college but has been teaching second-year Latin since 1980, when
the university's only Latin professor left to seek a doctorate in
classics.
     "I just went into it to maintain the course and keep things
alive until the university could hire a permanent classics
professor," Professor Peterson said.  But that became a 12-year
commitment as an English and Latin professor, the Latin part of
which he plans to continue beyond his July retirement.
     The university also employs a part-time instructor to teach
introductory Latin courses.  So, when Professor Peterson an-
nounced his retirement plans, it initially decided in December
that the program could be cut without eliminating any full-time
positions.
     "One of the responsibilities of the university was to look
around for programs that were not very heavily subscribed which
could be cut or truncated without damage to the faculty members,
said Charles Burgess, the dean of the College of Arts and Letters
at Old Dominion.
     The classics program, which had enrolled only four students
when it was canceled, fell victim.  But when Professor Peterson
requested and received special permission to continue his second-
year course for another year without salary, the university
postponed the program's demise until at least then.
     "I guess the older I get the more I appreciate its stabili-
ty," Professor Peterson, who is 65 years old, said about Latin.
"There's nothing innovative about it.  It's been around a long
time."
     This consistency appeals to students as well, he added:
once students learn the rules to Latin, they know them for life.
"Then, of course, there is the nature of the language," he said.
"It is very mathematical and very regular."
     And some students say it is quite contemporary.  "It gives
us a good basis to understanding what is going on in the world
today," Said Katherine Chapman, a sophomore interdisciplinary
studies major from Suffolk, Va., who is enrolled in Latin 102.
For example, "You can see where we get our idea for democracy."
     The introductory Latin 101 and 102 courses will remain
because they are popular among students, Mr. Burgess said.  But
first-year Latin still would not be enough for students interest-
ed in reading classic literature in its original language, he
added.  "In terms of being able to read Virgil or Ovid, it's not
going to get you there," Mr. Burgess said.
     Professor Peterson attributed the dropoff in interest in
Latin at Old Dominion to budget cuts that limited the available
classes, especially the introductory ones.  "Latin is doing very
well in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Portsmouth and so on,"
he said.  "One of my arguments is that if the students want to do
something beyond the second year, they have a place to do it."
     Professor Peterson says he wants Old Dominion to be taht
place and plans to teach the second-year Latin course free for a
year.  Then, the university said, it will decide whether to
continue the class with another.
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