Dunedin is justly proud of its status as a city of the book, a city of literature.
That this status is not merely a matter of local pride, but of international significance, was recorded in 2014. In that year Dunedin took up its place alongside 41 other notable venues in the world rejoicing in the title of Unesco "City of Literature".
As a local website puts it with the iconic buildings of the University of Otago resplendent in the background: "Dunedin is a magnificent example of a small city that lives, breathes and connects through its people, its culture and its intense love of literature."
A decade before this honour was conferred I arrived in Dunedin.
My task was to set up the University of Otago's first department of languages and cultures.
Nearly nine happy years followed in which the department was duly set up and many excellent hirings made. A vibrant research culture based on the study and teaching of foreign literatures was established. A new journal with a focus on French literature was set up, a book series focusing on German literature elevated to new importance, the first English translation of a major work of European philosophy from 1789 completed, alongside countless essays, monographs and poetic works that appeared in several languages during these years.
The vice-chancellor of the day, Prof Sir David Skegg, singled out the young department for positive comment in 2006 when Otago was accorded the honour of best research university in New Zealand. Even small steps towards research excellence were of importance in securing this honour, Sir David noted of the fledgling department's research performance at the time.
Times have changed. Foreign languages at Otago have lost their standing as a department and been restructured.
Now, with a further restructure pending, a vote on a radical plan to cut its offerings is to be taken within weeks if not days. German, the mainstay of the department in my time and long before it, is to be axed completely. Perhaps French will soon follow?
The remaining three or four language programmes to be salvaged will be permitted to teach language acquisition papers only. The study of foreign literatures in these remaining languages will be abandoned.
Worst of all is the damage that will be done to what Unesco cities of literature call "our values". As Unesco's website puts it, literary cities "build a welcoming and co-operative network that reflects the diversity and richness of the world's languages and literatures".
Let us be clear. The University of Otago, in pursuing these plans to hobble its foreign languages, is about to break with that "diversity and richness" in fundamental ways.
The claim to be a Unesco City of Literature — alongside Dublin, Edinburgh, Heidelberg and Melbourne, just to name a few — is destined to ring hollow.
These moves against languages are not just an internal matter for the University of Otago, but should concern anyone who values Dunedin's status as a Unesco City of Literature.
— Tim Mehigan, Professor of German at the University of Queensland, was Professor of Languages at the University of Otago from 2004 to 2013.
