The week of Feb. 2, a proposal for an interdisciplinary Jewish studies concentration was rejected by the Resource Allocation Subcommittee (RAS) and the Curricular Policy Committee (CPC). Spearheaded by Associate Professor of Religious Studies Krista Dalton, the 13-page proposal argued that an interdisciplinary concentration is crucial to a comprehensive study of Judaism at Kenyon. According to Professor of Political Science and RAS chair David Rowe, the concentration would face faculty resource constraints.
Dalton began looking into organizing a Jewish studies concentration when she was first hired eight years ago. Even before her arrival on campus, Dalton received emails from students asking if the College had a Jewish studies program or courses focused on the Hebrew language and the history of Judaism. “[This level of interest] is not the case at every school,” Dalton told the Collegian in an interview. “Not every school has lots of Jews and non-Jews who want to take Jewish studies courses this much. But they do here… overwhelmingly.”
Existing courses relating to Judaism are in high demand on the Hill — according to Dalton, her upcoming course on the Hebrew Bible has a waitlist of over 40 students. Students have also solicited her mentorship and guidance in navigating interdisciplinary Jewish studies going into graduate school.
Dalton began organizing her proposal for a Jewish studies concentration in spring 2024. The proposal laid out 15 preexisting courses to incorporate into a concentration, as well as a detailed sample three-year cycle plan for courses counting toward the concentration across the religious studies, history and German departments.
Proponents of the concentration, including Dalton and Assistant Professor of History Alex Novikoff, argue that it would encourage professors to create new courses related to Jewish studies and integrate subjects relating to Jewish studies into their existing courses. The creation of a dedicated concentration would also allow students to receive more specific mentoring on the interdisciplinary study of Judaism.
In August 2024, Dalton reached out to interested students to ask for letters of support for the concentration, presenting the student support letters and the proposal to RAS and CPC in the fall. However, Dalton was informed two weeks ago that RAS and CPC declined to bring the proposal to faculty, writing that “an interdisciplinary concentration would be an inappropriate curricular vehicle for Jewish studies given current faculty resources.”
In an interview with the Collegian, Rowe referenced constraints surrounding faculty resources. “Both CPS and RAS — the resource allocation subcommittee — support Jewish studies at Kenyon, full stop,” he said. “The question is not ‘Jewish studies at Kenyon or not Jewish studies at Kenyon.’ The question is, how do you do it? What’s the most sustainable structure we can create in order to accomplish this objective? And it was clear that there are resource problems with an interdisciplinary concentration.” CPC and RAS suggested that Dalton organize a Jewish studies minor in the Department of Religious Studies instead of an interdisciplinary concentration — not as an end point for Jewish studies, but rather as a stepping stone for Jewish studies to grow into a concentration.
According to Rowe, the College has to weigh a multitude of factors when considering whether Kenyon will have enough resources to sustain a concentration in the future. “You have to ask questions about, how many faculty are there?” Rowe said. “What are the regular courses that they teach, what is the nature of their relationship to the College? Are they on a long-term contract? Do they have tenure? … It’s all future looking.”
The proposal submitted to the RAS and CPC outlined four core Kenyon faculty members dedicated to shepherding the program: Dalton, Novikoff, Associate Professor of History Eliza Ablovatski and Associate Professor of German Leo Riegert. “It strikes me that the benefits of the proposal were not seen as outweighing this issue [of limited faculty resources],” Dalton wrote in an email responding to the RAS and CPC committees. “I have always been told Kenyon was ‘scrappy,’ using limited resources to maximum ends.” Other concentrations, such as the Integrated Program in Humane Studies and the Islamic Civilization and Cultures concentration, only have three and four professors, respectively, listed as their faculty on Kenyon’s website.
Novikoff was disappointed in what he perceives as a double standard in the College’s concentration offerings. “It is disheartening to witness that the College is unwilling to acknowledge the interdisciplinary value of Jewish studies, even as we support and rightly celebrate Islamic studies, Asian studies, American studies, Latino/Latina studies and Gender and Sexuality studies, among other interdisciplinary programs,” Novikoff said.
Dalton also pushed back against the notion that Jewish studies belongs solely in the Department of Religious Studies, arguing that by not formally organizing it as a concentration, students are being limited in their comprehensive study of Judaism. “Jewish studies spans over 2,000 years of literature, history, music, dance, tradition and religious ideas that played a direct role in the formation of global history,” Dalton wrote in the letter. “A student aiming to expand their horizons in Jewish studies is not seeking the same thing that a student in religious studies seeks.”
“Conscripting Jewish studies to being under the umbrella of religious studies is, in my opinion, just a factually incorrect assessment of what Judaism is,” Sadie Martinez ’27, who wrote a letter to RAS/CPC in support of the concentration, explained in a message to the Collegian. “The majority of ‘Jewish studies’ classes here are not about the religious aspects of Judaism so it also simply doesn’t fit in with the rest of the department.” Martinez wrote. “Hearing this decision made me feel as though my presence here at Kenyon doesn’t matter to the administration.”
Although Dalton stated that the faculty seeking to establish the concentration would apply again, she lamented the committees’ final decision in her response email. “This is not the perception of Kenyon that I strive to cultivate in my courses, but I fear that the message students are receiving is that Kenyon does not care about Jewish students,” she said.
News assistant Daisy Newbury ’27 contributed to reporting.