Dear Dr. Johnson,

 Here are the major points to our rationale:

 1.      The current Theatre major serves very few students.  Our
upper-level courses, as the Dean explained, have as few as 2 or 3 students
in them, always running at under capacity.

2.      While at first blush it may seem that eliminating a major reduces
offerings to undergraduates, it is in fact the case that eliminating the
current major and instituting the new minors will allow the Theatre
Department to serve far more undergraduate students and allow for more
students being able to take more courses in the most popular area of study
(performance).

3.      The performance courses in the new minor will be taught by members
of UD's new resident professional acting company which will ensure high
quality instruction of those courses.

4.      While prospective UD students often seek courses in Theatre, they do
not want a major in Theatre.  They want quality course work with the
possibility of a minor in Theatre within the context of a liberal arts
education.

5.      UD's current major is a BA.  The very few prospective students who
seek (or should seek) professional, vocational, conservatory training on the
undergraduate level want a BFA program, which UD cannot offer.  No school in
the country offers both a highly ranked MFA and a highly ranked BFA because
doing either well makes enormous demands on resources.  Like Yale, Harvard,
Columbia, and others, the University of Delaware has committed itself to
offer vocational training only on the graduate level, which encourages
potential students with interest in theatre to first get a good liberal arts
education before pursuing conservatory, vocational training.

If you would like more on any of this, just let me know.

Sandy Robbins